Genma Shiranui: Mother Hen Extraordinaire
by Varmint
Summary: Years later, Genma would look back on this first meeting with mixed emotions. But at the moment it happened, he just didn't feel right about leaving a kid outside in the rain... Genma adopts the Konoha 12 in every aspect but legal. Kakashi and Raidou tease him about being a fully fledgedmother hen. The rest of the jounin don't dare mess with him though. Fluff and feels ahead!
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1: The Beginning of Genma Shiranui's Mother Hen Experience:_ How the first five demon brats ended up under his care (finger painting and free food may have had a lot to do with it) and Genma found himself on the radar of three different clans as if he were either a threat or unofficial member of said clans... He wasn't really sure how to chalk it up at the moment when it came to these clans.

..~..~..

It had all started with a moment of what Genma now called lack of logical reasoning. He had been tired; terribly drained after a long mission; hungry because of the mission, and kind of feeling the effects of having to go back to an empty apartment.

He didn't like being alone much. After he had failed- because even though nobody else agreed with him, he knew he had _failed_ his Hokage when the Kyuubi attacked- he had not been able to regain his sense of normalcy. Nights were spent awake and distracting himself from the nightmares that tried to swallow him whole. And days were spent working his body to the bone, hoping to become so tired he'd fall into a nightmare and dreamless sleep.

His plan had mostly worked for the majority of the time. But there were moments in which no amount of tiredness could keep the nightmares away and Genma was forced to relive the moment he had committed his greatest failure and allowed the Hokage to get away from him to sacrifice himself for the village.

For the most part, Genma had been able to keep himself alive with the harsh routine he had decided on. But those that he allowed to be close to him (which were only an extremely few lucky people) thought that he was killing himself slowly. Which was a load of bullshit because, really, he was fine. He was just dealing with his grief over a death that had happened at least three years ago. It was totally normal to grieve for that long. He was pretty sure about it.

... Three years already... He had been seventeen when that great calamity had taken place. Now he was twenty and it seemed as if nothing had changed. Sure, he had finally left that awkward teenage stage of his body that had consisted of him being a lanky and gangly teenage boy to be a sturdy and physically fit young man. But aside from the physical changes, it had felt as if he had never changed at all. He was just as overwhelmed by his dark thoughts and feelings as he had been when they had begun.

Genma had been heading back to his too empty apartment when the chance meeting had taken place. A small drizzle had been coming down, but he hadn't minded too much because nothing much bothered him anymore.

But he knew that not many people shared his thoughts and the matter and so wasn't surprised by the fact that very little people were walking down the streets around him. The drizzle was slowly becoming more than just that, which meant that those few that didn't mind it were beginning to move away.

As the man passed beside a small park near his home, the sight of someone standing in the very middle of the rain made him stop completely. It was an extremely small person with black hair. A kid. Or a very small man... No. A kid.

The kid's shoulders were shaking. His hands were up, hiding his eyes. And he stood completely hunched over inside of the park. The small sniffles and gasps reached Genma after a few seconds of looking at the child in slight confusion.

Why was a kid standing in the middle of the rain in the middle of the street in the middle of the night?

"Dad... Why did you have to go?"

Oh... _Shit_. Genma's eyes widened as soon as he heard the broken sob and found himself faltering in his steps.

The kid was crying for his father. And Genma had heard that tone before. He'd heard that much pain and sadness in his time. He had been in the kid's shoes years ago and knew exactly what he must be going through.

He had been faced with a daunting choice that day. He could have continued, walked away from the crying kid in the middle of the rain. He would have lived his life like he had lived it up to that point and forced himself to never look back. Or he could have stuck around, walked towards the kid, asked him what was wrong, and been a good human being for once.

For a second, he had actually contemplated walking away and never looking back. But then he thought about how, knowing how he was, he would totally look back and wonder what if he had stuck around. So, with his heart lurching softly at the reminder of how he had been in the kid's same shoes years ago and a small bit of curiosity biting at him, the senbon enthusiast walked over to the sobbing child.

"Hey kid... You okay?"

Long black hair swished around as soon as the kid jumped up upon hearing Genma's voice. And the pale, undeniably identifiable eyes that belonged to the Hyuga clan looked back at the man, rimmed by red, surprise showing clear.

The kid didn't say anything at first. He just stared like a deer caught by hunters. And Genma looked back at him with equal amounts of shock clear on his own face.

But the man soon shook his head softly, giving a small smile.

"It's late." He rolled the senbon on his lips with his tongue, then, noticing that the kid wasn't going to answer, tried a different approach. "Aren't you cold? It's pretty chilly with all of this rain."

The kid sniffled and raised his hand to wipe at his nose. Then he glanced down at the floor, face twisting up as he seemed to want to begin to cry once more. "My dad liked the rain..."

Genma immediately felt bad. He had been in this kid's shoes. He knew how horrible it was to lose a father. He knew what it was like to lose an entire family.

Clicking the piece of metal between his teeth, the man took a few step forwards and scratched at the back of his head. He was hungry and tired. But there was something about this kid that made him feel compelled to act. It just didn't feel right to leave him alone in the rain. He couldn't do that. He may be somewhat numb to life, but that didn't mean he was heartless.

"Hey... Are you hungry, kid?" It was late. He was hungry. And he bet that the kid was too. So it wouldn't hurt to try this new approach.

From the way he seemed to stop in his crying for a second, Genma believed he had struck a chord.

"I'm going to make myself some instant ramen if you'd like. I'm kind of hungry myself too."

What he was doing inviting a kid into his apartment so late at night was beyond him. But the boy's sniffles had stopped and Genma felt that this was a victory in itself, so he wasn't about to spoil it.

The kid took one tentative step towards him. Then he took another. Then he looked up at him quizzically, looked back at the park behind him, then back at Genma before he continued to walk forward.

It took a few minutes to get the boy to open up. But soon enough Genma found out that his name was Neji Hyuga, the odd tattoo-like image on his forehead was a seal of some sort, and he was crying in the middle of the park so late at night because his father had just died a few hours ago and he had run away from the Hyuga Compound because he couldn't stand being around the stuffy jerks (Genma's words, not the boys).

Genma had not known it at the time. But this chance meeting and late night dinner with Neji Hyuga would be the beginning of a new chapter of his life he would have never expected to experience.

* * *

Neji came around on the days Genma wasn't busy reeling from missions or away on them. Which really kind of worried Genma seeing how he couldn't have been more than four years old. But the kid was a smart four year old, which may have been why he was allowed to roam alone.

"I do not think that you should be eating so many instant foods, Genma-san."

The boy had opened the door into Genma's apartment without even knocking. He had decided about a week ago that knocking wasn't worth it and Genma didn't have the heart to tell him it was only proper and a cordiality to do so. He was always forced to be the perfect little Hyuga when he was at his home. And he came around with enough regularity that the man just didn't find it within himself to tell him that he shouldn't have so much trust with him so quickly.

He had been busy preparing himself some instant lunch when the boy had walked in. And with a soft sigh, the man resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he turned around to face the Hyuga.

But when he looked down at the black haired boy, he was left taken aback because instead of one head of pristine raven locks, there were two.

The man blinked at the smaller child holding onto Neji's hand with a death grip, then asked, "Neji, who's this?"

"Genma-san, this is my cousin, Lady Hinata."

He recognized the little girl with the short black hair that seemed to want to mold herself into Neji's side. He knew he had seen her somewhere else before. He just couldn't place her at the precise second he looked at her.

"Lord Hiashi wished for the nannies to look after both of us. He wished for me to stay with her at all times while he prepares a few things for the clan." The boy's eyes shifted to the side slightly, immediately telling Genma that those preparation were actually the funeral arrangements for his father without saying a single thing. "But I did not wish to stay with them. So I brought her here to meet you."

With this curt explanation, Neji looked down at his cousin and nudged her softly, "Lady Hinata, greet Genma-san."

He had known the kid was proper. But Genma was kind of surprised by him calling this small girl Lady Hinata. And... Wait a minute. Had he said Lord Hiashi?

Hinata had been busy stuttering out a very shy and troubled hello when Genma gasped and looked at Neji with wide eyes. "Is this your clan's heir?"

With a simple nod, Neji told him, "Yes. That is why I address her as Lady Hinata."

Genma later found himself having to explain to an extremely angered Hiashi Hyuga that, no, he hadn't kidnapped Hinata or Neji and he wasn't going to hurt them. And then he'd found himself having to listen to the man drone on and on about the importance of treating his daughter with the respect an heir deserves, and his nephew with the dignity he was supposed to receive from just having been born into the clan.

* * *

After Hiashi had given his seemingly half assed approval to Genma, both Hyuga's came around his apartment with frequency. They both seemed to enjoy spending time with him and being allowed to paint with their fingers, even though he only really had black ink and standard sized paper.

It had been pretty odd, actually. Genma was now in his apartment a lot more often than he had been before. To him, it seemed as if the Hokage wasn't sending him off on as many mission as Genma had gotten accustomed to going. But he didn't find it in his heart to try and change that because Neji and Hinata both came around so often that he had even found himself wondering if he should just have them leave spare sets of clothes in his home for when they got the ink on their clothes and were worried about getting in trouble.

Actually, now that he thought about it, he was even being sent on more missions with members of the Hyuga clan. He didn't mind it. They were polite and mission oriented, and he could admire the fact that they were so serious. But it was kind of odd, considering how he'd only been on missions with members of the clan only a handful of times before Hinata and Neji wound up in his apartment.

Today was one of those days in which the cousins wound up at his door earlier than what the senbon enthusiast had come to expect from them when they came alone. But he knew that they were early because they had knocked on his door, rather than waltzed in like they usually did when alone. Which immediately alerted him to the fact that they weren't alone.

Luckily, he had been making his breakfast and was dressed in a comfortable set of pajama pants and white tank top, so he didn't have to scramble out of bed to open the door.

Usually, when they were dropped off at his doorstep, a nanny accompanied them. Said nanny was the one that knocked. But today was different. When Genma opened the door, he didn't find any Hyuga he didn't recognize. He knew all three.

"Lord Hiashi?" The man was surprised to find the head of the Hyuga clan in front of him. But the stoic man showed no emotions on his face rather than a suppressed kind of annoyance as he motioned for both children with him.

"Hinata and Neji have been arriving back to the compound with clothes stained of black. They tell me it is because you allow them to finger paint."

The last two words seemed foreign to the older man. He even seemed to have a bit of difficulty saying them. But Genma merely nodded softly, wondering if this would be the moment when Hiashi told him to stay away from the kids.

"The black ink is rather difficult to wash off. So I have brought some money for you to use to buy suitable paints for this activity. Please go into the market today with Hinata and Neji so they can help you pick out the best tools for this."

Genma had heard the man's words, seen the man's mouth move as he said them. But... He couldn't believe this was Hiashi Hyuga.

Narrowing his eyes just slightly at the three Hyuga in front of him, Genma took a small step back. "Are you feeling well, Lord Hiashi?"

The man's already hard eyes hardened even more at the question.

"Take the money and the children, go into the market, and buy what I have told you to buy. And some painting smocks would not hurt either."

With the forceful order, Hiashi had stuck his hand out, forced Genma to take a small pouch that jingled just slightly, then turned around and stalked off. Hinata and Neji just stood at the door with small smiles on their face, looking up at Genma expectantly.

The man stood at his door for a few seconds, much too shocked to move. Then he looked down at the pouch in his hands, at the kids, then back to the pouch, and once more at the kids.

"Did... Is he actually letting you guys finger paint?"

Both nodded immediately, Neji answering with, "Hinata's mother convinced Lord Hiashi that it would be best for us to use the adequate materials rather than black ink that will continue staining our clothes."

The brown haired specialized jounin looked down at the boy as if he had just sprouted two heads. But, soon enough, he merely sighed, stepped into his apartment, and motioned for them both to enter.

"Have you already had breakfast?"

Both kids shook their heads, but Genma found that hard to believe. He knew that Hiashi would never allow his daughter and nephew to leave the house without the most important meal of the day. But he had found out that, for some reason, they enjoyed eating the food he made, even though he only really cooked simple breakfasts. Still, who was he to fault them for liking his food? He didn't mind sharing.

"Alright..." He breathed out as he closed the door behind them, "We'll eat, then head out and buy the things."

~/~

Inside of the pouch Genma had found a small note with a message written on it.

 _'Hinata needs a new bouquet of flowers in her room and Neji needs some more hair care supplies.'_

When he had read the message, Genma's mind had gone blank for a second. Then he'd read it once more and found himself frowning. He was being used as the Hyuga's errand boy!

He had found himself thinking about going over to the Hyuga compound and telling Hiashi where he could shove this damned note... But then he'd found Hinata's extremely small hand sliding into his own, which made him feel like a giant because of how _small_ she was, and he'd felt his anger ebb away slightly. And then he'd seen Neji pointing in excitement at the art supplies store and felt all of his anger leave him.

Okay... He could play along for today. His next mission was slotted for the next week and it wouldn't kill him to get out and get some fresh air in his lungs. He only really went out for missions, food runs, or contraband alcohol runs. Getting out with Hinata and Neji shouldn't hurt too much.

Or so he had thought.

After he had bought the paints that were specially designed to not cause too much trouble when clothes were washed, paint smocks, and Neji's hair supplies, Genma had told the kids they would be visiting the Yamanaka flower shop before going back to his apartment.

And the excitement that lit Hinata's face up had been enough to make the man feel that, yeah, sure, he had been used as an errand boy, but the kid was much too cute to see sad and he'd like to see that look on her face a lot more often.

Inoichi had been tending to some flowers at the side of the shop when they had all stepped in. And when he had caught sight of the two Hyuga's in Genma's company, the blonde had quirked an eyebrow but said nothing. Genma had seen that look on the interrogator's face before and couldn't help but feel somewhat judged. But soon enough the man was smiling and treating him like any other customer, so the senbon enthusiast quickly forgot about those feelings.

"What can I do for you, Genma? Looking for flowers for a lady friend?"

He hadn't really known Inoichi all that well. For a brief moment after the Hokage's death, the Yamanaka had offered him a job in T&I to help him stay in the village and make back the money he had lost when the Nine Tails had destroyed his home. But Genma had denied the offer, instead deciding to go off on as many high ranked mission as he could to make the money back.

With a small smirk, Genma moved the hand that was holding Hinata just slightly, which made her squeak and hide behind his leg, still holding onto his hand. "Depends on your definition of lady friend, Yamanaka."

The twinkle in his blue eyes never left as Inoichi looked down at Hinata. If anything, it only seemed to become brighter.

"Buying flowers for a Hyuga?" He questioned in amusement, crouching down so he was at eye level with the girl. And Hinata just tried to become one with Genma's legs, clearly afraid of having to speak with the Yamanaka. "Well, if I remember correctly, Lady Hinata likes lavenders and lilies. Am I correct?"

Genma could feel her body tremble and her eyes close against his legs. But Inoichi soon rose up and looked at him, which took some of the pressure off of her shaking shoulders.

"She comes around every so often for a new bouquet." Inoichi explained, even though Genma really didn't know if he needed to say this, then turned around to call into the back of the shop. "Ino! Fetch me Lady Hinata's flowers, please!"

"Sure thing, dad!"

The voice that drifted in from the back was young and bubbly. And after a few seconds and a few noises of clattering back there, a little kid that looked like the female equivalent of a young Inoichi bounced towards them, a collection of flowers held in her hands.

Inoichi moved over to the register of the shop to ring up the price while his daughter handed the flowers over to Neji. They then began to talk and Genma walked towards the register with Hinata still holding on to him.

The girl could be painfully shy, apparently. Because he had never been out with the Hyuga's, he hadn't noticed this. But now that he had... He believed he should help the kid out.

"Thanks, Inoichi." Genma smiled softly as he handed over the money to the blonde man, who merely waved him off.

"Don't worry about it, Shiranui. We all have things we do outside of the job, it's nothing out of this world."

Even though the comment was pretty straightforward, Genma could help but feel that Iniochi was implying something that he didn't quite catch. But before he could decide on whether he should question him about it or not, the man was interrupted by a shrill squeal coming from behind him, which was then accompanied by the rustling of a bag.

"You're going to go finger paint! I wanna do that!"

It was Inoichi's clone that was screaming all this out. And when Genma looked up at Inoichi's smiling yet somewhat apologetic face, he got a sudden sinking feeling he could not explain.

"Genma-san! Can Ino come back with us?"

Neji was now right beside him, grasping the sleeve of Genma's long sleeved shirt with wide eyes.

"She really wants to finger paint!"

"I really do!"

Oh. Look at that. The clone was beside Neji now, looking up at him with bright blue eyes.

Both kids looked eager and hopeful. And Genma hated being the bad guy in the story, but he sighed and prepared himself to let both kids down.

Although he never got around to being the bad guy because Inoichi interrupted him before he could even try.

"You know, I think it would be good for Ino to go out and have some fun with kids her own age." The blonde man murmured in thought, which made Genma whip his head around to look at him with shock immediately. "What do you say, Genma? Would you mind taking on another kid for today? It'd do her good to get out of the flower shop and have some fun."

The man's eyes were twinkling once more. But there was something odd in that twinkle. Something that wasn't either mischief or amusement.

"Well... Are you sure, Inoichi?" Genma could have said no. But he really couldn't. Not with Neji looking at him like that. Not with Hinata looking at him like a puppy expecting a treat. Not with the Inoichi clone looking at him with eyes as bright as her father's, although a thousand times more innocent.

"Of course!" The blonde man nodded, clapping his hands, "I'll even bring some dinner so they can all share a meal before I bring her back home."

Genma couldn't find it within to say no. Which is how he wound up going back to his apartment with finger painting supplies, hair care products, a bouquet of flowers, and one more kid than he had set out with in the morning.

* * *

The Yamanaka _really_ liked finger painting. But not on paper. No, the little blonde enjoyed leaving her artistic marks on _Hinata_. Not paper. Not on walls, which would be easier to clean. Not even on the canvas Inoichi had bought for her to stop her from painting the young girl. Nope. The blonde enjoyed painting the youngest of the kids he took care of.

Which was the reason why Genma found himself scrambling around the laundromat near his home for the second time that week. Ino had painted Hinata once more, drenched her in all kinds of colors, and now he was forced having to make her clothes at least a tiny bit presentable before one of the Hyuga's came around to pick the cousins up.

All three kids were currently seated on a bench in the laundromat, comfortably eating the cookies Genma had bought them to bribe them into silence.

Hiashi didn't like it when his kids returned to their home with huge amounts of paint on them. He could deal with splotches and splatters. But not with head to toe kinds of paint coverage. And now Genma was trying to get the little girl's clothes as clean as possible in a tight time limit because the damned Hyuga's were always annoyingly punctual.

... At least he had managed to get all of the paint out of her hair and face...

"Ino, this is the last time I tell you, the next time you paint Hinata, I'm not allowing you to come back and finger paint with us!"

He was busy desperately applying detergent to the young girl's clothes and running water over them in the hopes that he'd see less paint. And it was working, in essence, but too slowly. At this pace, the girl's clothes would not be washed and dried before they came to pick her up. And Genma _really_ didn't feel like having to sit through another of Hiashi's responsibility speeches.

"But Genma! She's fun to paint!"

The man sent a glare in the blonde's direction, but just found her smiling back at him. Hinata squeaked softly and burrowed herself into her cousin's arms, who merely patted her head softly.

The senbon enthusiast also sent a glare his way, but Neji had the decency to at least blush. Even though he hadn't done anything to Hinata, the older of the cousins had done nothing to save her from Ino's eager hands. And so Genma also held him at fault for this happening.

"Last time I tell you!" He grunted out before resuming his frantic washing, eyes narrowed at the fabric in his hands.

He could not believe this was what his life had become. Two months ago, he had been fine. He'd been going on missions, living his life like a pretty normal person, and had no problems with running himself ragged. But ever since he had somehow become Hinata and Neji's unofficial babysitter, things had changed.

He wasn't set out on out of the village missions all that often anymore. And this had been okay at first, seeing how Genma guessed that the Hokage wanted him to take a small time to rest. But then, when he _did_ get out of the village missions, they were with members of the Hyuga clan. And now, ever since Ino had been added to his inadvertent daycare service, members of the Yamanaka clan were around more often.

At first, he had chalked it all up to coincidence. But he couldn't really allow himself to think that way anymore. Not with Inoichi being so insistent in him taking care of Ino, even though he was just in the working in the flower shop on the days he left the girl at his doorstep. Not with the way that the Hyuga's now almost seemed to actually respect him, rather than just tolerate him.

And that wasn't even counting the fact that everybody that had once supplied him with alcohol even though he was only a year below the legal limit had seemed to have disappeared. Because even though he was a legal adult in the eyes of the law and had been since he was a genin, alcohol laws still applied to him. No one under twenty one should be drinking. Which _sucked_ , considering all the shit shinobi went through.

He didn't know why things had changed. He just knew that it had somehow been the kid's fault.

"Excuse me, Shinobi-san?"

Genma had been so deep in thought that he didn't notice when the civilian walked up to him. He looked up in slight surprise at being caught off guard, then looked at the dark haired woman and nodded slightly.

"Is anything wrong, ma'am?" He questioned, causing her black eyes to shift down to the garment in his eyes.

"No, not really. Although I did notice you struggling with clothes and wondered if I could help." The woman explained herself, shifting just slightly on her feet undoubtedly because of his attention on her.

She was one of the few civilians that lived around this area. He had seen her walking around with a young girl with hair as dark brown as her own. They were family to a jounin level man that Genma had never gone out on a mission with.

"Well..." The man sighed heavily, looking back at the normally gray clothes that were still overtaken by bright pinks, purples, and yellows. "If you know how to get a large amount of paint off clothes, I would really appreciate it."

The woman smiled reassuringly at him, then made to grab the clothes. "I know exactly how to help you. My daughter, Tenten, enjoys having fun with paints as well, so I've had to figure out a few tricks to keep from having to buy her new clothes every week." Then she turned the cloth over in her hands, nodding to herself, "I should have this ready for the washing machine in five minutes."

" _Five_ minutes?" In so little time? "Really?"

"Yup." The woman nodded, then turned around with the clothes in her hands. "Oh! But would you mind looking after my daughter while I do so?"

Before Genma could truly answer her, the woman was walking off to work on Ino's mess. And when he turned around to look at the kids under his charge, he found that there was one more person than he had expected to find. Two buns at the top of her head, a long sleeved, high collared red shirt, and a hand raised, poised to poke Hinata's cheek.

This must have been the woman's daughter. Tenten, right?

Immediately walking towards the children, Genma wagged his finger in her face, "We do not poke Hinata's face."

The brown eyed child blinked up at him with a blank expression on her face. Then the finger changed trajectory and poked Hinata's arm.

Immediately, Genma knew that he was in for an interesting five minutes as he looked after the kids in his care.

He just hadn't expected that those five minutes would actually turn into the rest of his life.

* * *

Ino, Tenten, Hinata, and Neji. Three girls and one boy. Two four year olds and two three year olds.

They all enjoyed being in his apartment. They all enjoyed finger painting and free breakfast and the lunches Takeo, Tenten's mother, would make, and the dinners Inoichi would bring. Days were spent taking care of the kids as little more than a babysitter to the four creative tykes.

They were hellions. Tenten and Ino were much too hyperactive and were always getting themselves in trouble. Just a day ago, he'd been forced to lock all of his weapons up inside of the one lockable closet in his apartment to keep them from throwing those dangerous projectiles at the Hyuga cousins. And said Hyuga cousins were a bit more calmed down, but they still caused him enough grief with their insistence of being in his apartment just about every second of the day, even if it meant running away from the Hyuga compound.

Their habits of running away had won Genma quite a few visits from the Hyuga clan head telling him that his children were not supposed to be running away from their home and that he should send them back whenever they did so.

Genma never really turned them back. He didn't have the heart to do so. Which meant he was stuck listening to Hiashi _a lot_.

On this day, the four children wanted to go out to the park. They couldn't finger paint anymore because Genma had run out of supplies and had not been able restock on them. And because they were much too active to leave him alone and just be normal children in their own homes, the four children really wanted to go out and have fun outside.

That was the reason why he now found himself inside of the park where he had first met Neji, watching as three kids ran off and played tag, all the while Hinata sat quietly beside him with a stuffed doll clutched tightly in her hand. He was content to just sit there and look at three hyperactive demons while the calmest brat remained silent beside him. But then the children decided that they should try and hide from him, which meant that he had to chase after them before they went too far and he got in trouble with their respective parents.

"Come on, Hinata. We can't let those brats get away."

He moved slowly and with ease. Luckily for him, the hellions were predictable. And he knew that they were just trying to play tag and head out of the park to make it more exciting. But the fact that their legs were so small allowed him to not have to run hurriedly after them when they tried to do something like this.

"Neji, Tenten, Ino, you know you can't wander off like this." The man carried Hinata with him as he followed after the children, who was looking at her friends with wide eyes.

"Hey, who are you?"

They weren't looking at him. Instead, the three kids were looking at someone in front of them, who was hidden from Genma's sight by the bushes.

"My name's Kiba Inuzuka! And you guys have to be _quiet_!" This was a new voice. Childish like all the others. But presumably male. "I'm trying to prank someone!"

"Ooh! I like pranks!" Ino and Tenten ran so they too were hidden by the bush, all the while Neji turned back to look at Genma with a quirked eyebrow.

"Hey, Tenten, Ino, what'd I tell you about stranger danger?" The man resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the girls lack of sensibility, then walked so he was closer to the bush they were hidden behind.

Both girls were crouched in front of a new boy. He had shaggy and wild brown hair, the distinct red fang marks on his cheeks, and dark eyes in the shape of slits that shined with mischief.

"Yo, you two. Come on. It's about time we head back and eat lunch." He shifted Hinata onto his other hip, moving his hand to motion for them to stand up.

All three kids looked up at him with wide eyes. And then Ino looked over at the Inuzuka and cocked her head to the side. "Want to go with us for lunch?"

"Wait, Ino-" Genma wanted to tell her that Takeo had only made food for five people, not six, but soon the Inuzuka was jumping and nodding happily.

"I could go for lunch! Pranking is fun and all, but I can do it later."

"Come on!" Tenten grabbed his hand immediately, running off with him before Genma could tell her that he couldn't join them.

~/~

Genma ended up giving the Inuzuka his share of the lunch. And with five kids in his apartment, eating at the table, he couldn't help but feel that he didn't really mind them around.

The new kid, Kiba, was loud and brash and told crass jokes. Tenten and Ino both laughed raucously with him while Neji chuckled softly. And Hinata giggled quietly, a perpetual blush on her face as she tried to become used to the new person that had joined her at the table.

He hadn't really noticed the gradual changes to his home as they had happened. He had just taken them as they were without really thinking about the fact that his life was in the midst of changing.

The first big change had come when Neji had first come to his apartment. He'd had to clean up all of the trash that had been laying around his home before he let the kid come inside and had then kept his house clean because he knew how judgemental the Hyuga could be. And if his apartment had been clean when Hiashi had glared at him for the way it looked, he knew that he would never have been allowed to have the kids around if he had allowed it to remain unkempt.

The next change had come when Ino rolled around. There were always flowers in his vases now and plants by the windowsills. He'd never really had flowers in his apartment because he was never around to take care of them. But now that he wasn't being sent off on as many missions out of the village for some odd reason, he was around to make sure they didn't die.

And the next major change had been that he had been forced to bring his dining room table out of storage and actually put it in use. He'd never had it in his apartment before because he'd never used it. But with his counter only seating four people and the inclusion of Tenten and Ino, he had deemed it necessary to bring out the set that could seat six people. With five people eating at his apartment, he knew that he couldn't continue eating standing up while the kids sat.

Now he was pretty glad that he had brought the table out of storage. Five kids and him equaled six, which meant that the table was filled and being used for the correct purpose.

"Hey! No throwing food!" He ended up scolding the small boy that had joined their ranks just today, all the while the boy had his hand raised and ready to throw pieces of food over at Tenten.

"But she just said that I wasn't strong enough to attack her!"

"Because you're not! Boys are weak and girls are strong!"

Genma immediately regretted not having told Tenten and Ino that the kid couldn't come along. Especially after he found his dining room covered in food, his own clothes stained with the thing, and the children covered head to toe and in desperate need for a bath.

"Dammit."

Kiba was smiling even as red sauce slid down his face. Ino was fussing over the chicken in her hair. Tenten was wringing the water out of the hem of her of shirt. Neji was glaring at Kiba darkly as noodles clung to his face. And Hinata seemed to be on the verge of tears as she looked at the toy in her hands, which had sauce covering its whole frame.

"You're all going to have to bathe."

"Never!"

"Hey, Inuzuka, don't-"

But the boy was off and running around his apartment, staining it with all of the food that clung to him. And Ino shouted after him, telling him that he was getting everything dirty... Only to run after him and begin to stain everything as well. Then Tenten took off after both of the other kids, yelling at them that they were being idiotic jerks.

It was when Neji began to chase after them in a fit of rage that Genma heard the knock on his door. And for a second, the man hesitated between stopping the shouting children or answering the door. But then the knocking became more insistent and the man decided that he could deal with the children later.

When he opened the door, he came face to face with Tsume Inuzuka, one of the most terrifying women he had ever met in his life.

"I smell Kiba in here."

The dark haired woman seemed irritated and annoyed. And right when Genma was going to answer, he heard a crash come from inside his house that made him sigh and hang his head.

"Kiba!"

Tsume forced her way into his apartment without any kind of fight from Genma with a dangerous glare on her face. As soon as she had shouted out, all of the pattering in his house halted and when Genma turned to look at the kids, he found all of them standing in their food covered states staring at Tsume with wide eyes.

"What do you think you've done, boy?" Tsume growled, then planted her hands on her hips. "You're going to clean this apartment up until it's spotless!"

Genma would have told her that she didn't have to do to that. But the kids ran off so quickly that he didn't tell them. And when they got to work on cleaning the apartment up, he just enjoyed the fact that he wasn't the one that would be stuck cleaning the mess up.

~/~

"I hear from Inoichi that you take care of kids on your free days." Tsume commented offhandedly as she helped dry Hinata off with a towel, the small girl holding in the whimpers she wanted to let out inside to not anger the already angry looking woman. "That true?"

Genma dried Neji off as he shrugged noncommittally, all the while he heard Kiba, Ino, and Tenten giggling from his living room with some of the toys Neji and Hinata had brought from their house a few weeks ago.

"I don't mind." Genma answered, then grabbed Neji's underwear and pants so he could dress while the man began to brush his hair. "Haven't been out on too many big missions. And they keep me active."

The woman grunted with a nod, then pulled Hinata's dress over her head and stood up.

"So you take care of these four kids often?" She questioned, which made Genma nod at her as he continued to pass the brush through Neji's hair to detangle it. "Good. You'll be seeing more of Kiba, then."

After that, whenever he went on the few out of village missions he was given, it was either with Inuzuka, Hyuga, or Yamanaka teammates. And even Tenten's father went with him a few times.

He hadn't known it at the time, but the child care arrangement would end up much bigger than anybody would have guessed. He had thought that this would be a temporary thing, just until the children got bored of him and move along to their own interests. He had guessed that their parents would eventually move them away from him and towards their ninja training.

He had been wrong.

..~..~..

So, long chapter, am I right? These chapters will be really wrong, considering how I want to cover so much in as little chapters as possible.

Please, be awesome and review. I love reading that stuff!


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: The Reason why Raidou and Kakashi insist on Calling Genma a Mother Hen:_ Genma faced a period of growth and adaptation after he became the unofficial babysitter to four clan kids and Tenten. During said period, he found himself facing more time inside of the village, less time doing things that he once did frequently, doing more things he barely ever did, and two annoying friends that didn't seem to understand that, no, he wasn't some kind of mother hen. And no, he wasn't about to give up his career as a tokubetsu jounin just to open a damned day care center.

..~..~..

One day Genma woke up to a hyperactive ball of energy jumping on his chest and asking for his breakfast. This didn't really surprise the man because he had gotten accustomed to Kiba entering his home without too many difficulties and telling him to make him food.

Even though he had traps and defenses set up along his whole apartment, he'd made them so the kids and their parents could enter without activating them. They were a lot of traps and he knew that he would be faced with annoyed clan heads if he didn't take that safety measure. Especially from Tsume, who had apparently deemed him worthy of taking care of her youngest at all times and allowed the kid to come in whenever he wanted as long as he did so with Kuromaru as an escort.

"Genma! Genma! Farmer man! Farmer man! Give me breakfast! I'm starving!"

The senbon enthusiast allowed the boy to bounce on his chest two more times before he scooped the kid up in his arms, sitting up to hold him up in the air. "Where's Kuromaru?"

He didn't even bother with telling the kid he needed to wait for him to open his apartment up to him. It was a battle he hadn't even engaged in with Neji. It wouldn't be worth it to even _try_ with an Inuzuka. They were a head strong lot.

"Right here, Shiranui."

The large wolf-like dog appeared at the doorway into his room, both dark eyes looking the human over for a second before glaring at Kiba. "What did I tell you about waking him like that, pup? You know your mother doesn't like it when you do things like this."

The young boy waved the dog's concerns off, "She won't know what you don't tell her, Kuromaru!" He beamed brightly at this, then looked at Genma with wide eyes. "Breakfast, Farmer man!"

Farmer man. He had first heard this nickname innocently whispered by Hinata. She had said that he looked a lot like the farmers in her fairy tales with the senbon always sticking out from his lips. She had been real sweet about it, too. Told him in the cutest way he could have heard. But Kiba had overheard and then he, Ino and Tenten had begun to call him by the name almost exclusively.

From something innocent brought on by Hinata all the way to a nickname filled with mocking used by the three most hyperactive hellions he had ever met in his life.

Genma looked at the boy with an analytical eye, then sighed, shook his head, and placed him down on the floor. "You should really learn how to say please, kid."

He knew that the kid was rough around the edges. But out of all the Inuzuka he had met, he had learned that they _all_ were rough around the edges. The way they were raised made most of the members of the clan be crass and somewhat rude because they were taught to be honest at all times. The kid wanted something, he demanded for it. He didn't like something, he made it clear. But Genma didn't bend over backwards trying to fix the kid's attitude and sense of discipline. He knew that his mother did enough of that while she was around.

"I know how to say it! I do!" The boy argued, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "But I'm starving!"

The man clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, feeling somewhat odd about being awake and not having a senbon in his mouth, but soon stood up and stretched his arms above his head. He was shirtless, like he liked to sleep, but wore pajama bottoms. After a few close calls with Kiba appearing out of nowhere, the man had taken to wearing actual clothes to bed to spare the boy of any unwarranted trauma.

"Do you have any idea what time it is, Inuzuka?" The man questioned as he grabbed the senbon he kept on his nightstand to pop it into his mouth. After rolling it around with his tongue and smacking his lips a few times, the man began to walk out of his room, feeling somewhat ready to begin a new day now that he had his lucky senbon around.

"Too early to be awake?" The boy questioned, showing exactly how much time he had spent around Genma.

"Too early to be awake." Genma nodded, yawning softly as he stepped into the kitchen to begin to prepare food for three.

Even though Kiba hadn't asked for it, the man knew that Kuromaru enjoyed eating a snack here or there. And seeing how it couldn't be any later than seven in the morning by the lack of light outside his home, the dog most probably deserved some kind of treat after having to wake up so early to make sure his young charge got to Genma's safely.

As he cooked a simple meal of eggs and heated up some left over rice, Genma listened complacently to Kiba chatter about anything that came to his mind. And every time the Inuzuka asked a question, the man would answer as honestly as he could.

"Why's the sky blue?"

"Because of science stuff."

"Why doesn't sis like playing with me?"

"Because she's in the Academy and is going through the dangerous perils of childhood."

"But aren't I a child?"

"Yeah, you are. But you're not in the Academy yet... Don't sweat it, kid, your time to run away from cooties will eventually come."

"... What are cooties?"

Smirking softly, Genma plated the food for himself and Kiba, then walked over to the bowl Tsume had left about three weeks ago for Kuromaru and dumped the rest there.

"You'll find out when you're in the Academy."

The boy groaned dramatically at his question being avoided like only Genma could do, but soon shut up when food was placed in front of him. Without even waiting for Genma to give him chopsticks, the boy dug in savagely, eating without any kind of hesitation.

As he saw the boy eat without much restraint, Genma couldn't help but smile softly. The Inuzuka was quite a character. Just like the rest of the kids he took care of most days now.

He had been taking care of these kids for weeks now. And he'd only truly gone on only a handful of missions that were B-Rank or higher. Only one A-Rank. It was beginning to irk him. Not only were A-Ranks a good source of income, but they usually made him stay out of the village for weeks on end, distracting him from all his thoughts.

Even though he had been able to push most dark things to the back of his mind once Neji appeared in his life and brought the rest of these wild kids as a consequence, he was becoming accustomed to what his life was now. And now that he wasn't running around trying to keep the kids from killing each other or themselves every second of the day, his mind was allowed to wander. And that was a dangerous thing with everything he had managed to lock up.

... He'd have to speak to the Hokage about this. He needed to stretch his legs, bust some heads. Even though he didn't mind looking after kids, he was also a shinobi. It was in his blood. He couldn't become docile and domestic. It just wasn't who he was.

Maybe he could do that today. Need for their services outside the village had slowed because there were so many of them now, which meant that the Hokage, although still stuck with an overload of paper work, didn't have to force his people to churn out reports so they would be available for another mission immediately. It'd be nice to go out again. Especially with teammates that were normal, non-clan related like him.

"Yo, Farmer man! We should go out today and go to the zoo in the nearby town!"

Genma's thoughts on hopefully taking back some semblance of his old life halted when he heard Kiba pipe up. And when he looked at the boy, he found the Inuzuka smiling broadly at him, eyes shining brightly.

"Kuromaru could be our guide. He's been there before with ma and pa." The boy continued, stopped for a second to lick his fingers, then nodded at himself. "We would all really like to go out and have some fun with you!"

"Oh, Kiba. I don't think your parents would allow me to take you kids out so far." The man smiled softly at the boy as he walked towards him, ruffling his hair. "But we'll figure out how to have a good time here, yeah?"

* * *

So... He was outside of the village. But not for the reason he had wished to leave.

"I want to see the giant tortoise!" Ino bounced on Kuromaru's back with excitement clear on her face, all the while Tenten nodded in agreement from behind her.

"Well I want to see the tigers!" Kiba jumped up in front of Genma with a loud whoop and Neji nodded softly in agreement with him.

Hinata was grasping tightly onto the tokubetsu jounin's left hand, Neji onto his right, and Kiba was holding his older sister's hand with a broad smile on his face. The older girl had a small smile on her face, although she didn't really seem like she was too joyed with having to spend a day with her baby brother's friends.

"Calm down, children. You'll be able to see all the animals in an hour or so."

The man was good with children. Why he couldn't have come with them alone, Genma couldn't understand. Clearly, Inoichi knew how to take care of all of the kids under his care. Why he couldn't have taken them all on this excursion alone was beyond the man. Especially seeing how Takeo was also with them, aside from the extra set of hands that were Hana and Inoichi.

Kiba had convinced his friends to talk to their parents about going out on a trip with Genma. And somehow, the parents had come to the conclusion that it would do the five children (and Hana) good to get out of the village and see what the world outside had to offer.

"Do you think there'll be any animals from the Land of Snow, Lord Inoichi?" Neji questioned as he looked up at the blonde man, who only shook his head softly.

"I don't think so, Neji. The animals there are used to a cold climate and snow. There isn't any of that around here, just sun shine and moderate climate changes." The Yamanaka explained, but still smiled, "Although I'm sure there'll be a lot more interesting animals to find."

All five children were extremely excited to be going on their first major trip outside of the village. From what their parents had told him when they told him about taking them out, none of them had actually been outside before. And, really, why weren't their parents here to take them out for this trip? Inoichi and Takeo were the only ones that seemed as if they actually wanted to spend a day with their respective children!

Although, speaking fairly, Tsume and Hiashi were both clan heads and had a lot of things to take care of before any impromptu vacations. And the only reason why Inoichi could do this was because he had gotten injured on a mission about two weeks ago and wasn't set to return to active duty for at least another week. And because her husband brought in a steady source of income, Takeo didn't need a job that gave too much and instead kept herself busy by helping the parents and younger siblings of some of the shinobi in her apartment building, giving her time to helping others.

But, seriously, those two were enough to take care of these six kids. Genma wasn't needed. Really.

Well... He'd gotten what he'd wished for... In a way. He was out of the village. But it wasn't for the reason he wanted.

"Genma!"

"Yes, Ino?"

"What animal is most like me?"

The question made the man actually think about his answer. Most of the times, it was easy banter with all of them or giving noncommitted answers to their curious questions. But seeing how Inoichi was here, he couldn't really deflect the question... He'd have to tread carefully here...

"You're no animal, princess." Inoichi answered for him, "You're a princess."

Taking a look at the girl hugging Kuromaru's neck, Genma couldn't help the small smirk. She was glaring daggers at her father. But the blonde man had the decency to small apologetically at her.

"Well, let's see your attributes, Ino." Genma said easily, making her look at him. "You're extremely active, so lazy animals like sloths and cats are out of the list-"

"But I like cats." The girl interjected, which made Tenten poke her in the arm to look at her. "But they sleep half the day away, Ino. You barely even sleep."

"And you enjoy running around and having a lot of fun." The man continued talking as if he had never been interrupted, clicking the senbon between his teeth as he thought. "But you're also extremely smart... So, if I would have to guess... Fox."

There was a moment in which none of the kids said anything. But suddenly, the rest of the kids, including _Hinata_ , were shouting over one another to ask which animal was most like them.

~/~

They were going to get kicked out of the zoo. He had no idea where Inoichi had disappeared to, Kuromaru was busy trying to catch the dogs Kiba had somehow managed to smuggle into the zoo, Takeo was too busy looking at souvenirs to help him reign in the kids, and he swore that Ino, Hana, and Tenten were going to seriously hurt Kiba and Neji if they didn't stop tag teaming them.

"Say it!"

"Never!"

"Say _it_!"

"Bite m-Ow! Did you just bite me!?"

" _Say it,_ Inuzuka!"

With a heavy sigh, Genma looked down at his stained clothes and wondered if this trip had been worth it. He had worn the most civilian like clothes he could find in his closet- a set of dark blue pants, a white shirt, and black jacket- and had hoped they would serve him well... At least his flak jacket would have covered most of his torso and kept his nice shirt from getting stained.

Hinata wasn't any better off. And her dress had been a light lavender color.

"Sis! Get off of me!"

"Take back what you said about girls and admit we're stronger than you!"

Neji was more quiet about the pain he was being subjected to. With Ino sitting on his back and Tenten forcing his hands down with her foot, the Hyuga couldn't really move. And Kiba was caught with Tenten's other foot in his face, all the while his sister kept her knee on his back while holding both of his arms back.

It had been quite a vicious battle, if Genma could tell the truth. Both boys had fought valiantly. But they had eventually gotten their asses handed to them by the girls. And he was somewhat proud to see that Hana could move so fast even though she wasn't supposed to graduate from the academy yet. And Ino and Tenten knowing how to throw a proper punch and kick was good too. He just kind of wished they weren't using these skills against the boys.

He could, theoretically, stop all of this. He was a tokubetsu jounin. He'd been the Fourth Hokage's body guard. In his field of expertise, he was the best of the best. He could take on three little girls.

But... Kiba and Neji had run their mouths thinking that he would back them up because he was also male. It wouldn't hurt them to get their pride bruised by the harsh truth that girls could be just as good- or even better- as them.

"Hey, Hinata." The young girl looked up at him with wide pale eyes, "Want to go over to the gift shop to see if we can find some change of clothes for you?"

Her family had only packed her delicate dresses. And with a group of rowdy kids like this one, they would all get ruined before they returned to Konoha in a few hours. Even though he didn't have a whole lot of money, he guessed he could buy her a set of clothes to replace the food and dirt stained dress she wore now.

Taking one final look at the girls that were still trying to get Kiba and Neji to crack, Genma guessed that they would still be here when he returned with clothes for her. And he also decided that he should be something for Neji, his own formal wear would be much too ruined after everything it was being put through at the moment.

At the moment, he hadn't known it. But when he got to the gift shop, he found out that there were some things even more troublesome than children fighting. And one of those was an impressionable child surrounded by brightly colored stuffed animals and amazing looking products at unbelievably high prices.

Genma had told her there was no way in the world that he'd buy her anything that wasn't clothes. Hinata had looked up at him with wide eyes that were seconds away from tearing up.

He had tried to stay strong and just buy what he though would be needed...

Needless to say, Hinata had won. She'd walked out with a stuffed lion, heart shaped ring, and a new set of clothes to replace the food and dirt stained dress she had worn.

... Oh. Right. And Neji and Kiba hadn't cracked at all- which made Genma admit that they at least stood fast in their beliefs, even though they were being idiotic. Inoichi though had swooped in and taken the three girls off of them. And then Genma had gotten an earful about how he wasn't supposed to leave fighting children unattended... Although Inoichi admitted Hinata looked adorable hugging her new lion.

* * *

After the zoo fiasco, Genma had been given a week long mission. The Hokage sent him, Raidou, and Tsume to the Land of Wind to track down a missing nin. It was supposed to have been a straightforward kind of mission to track, find, and bring back for interrogation.

Missions, though, never went according to plan. Instead of being out for a week, they were out for two. And even though they brought back their target, they returned in a less than stellar state. He had come back tired, with a bandaged shoulder- seeing how it had been dislocated- and in serious need for a drink.

When he'd gotten back to his apartment, he'd just wanted to get himself a cold beer and collapse, sleep for a full month. Drinking a bit after an especially gruelling mission was nothing new to him. Even though he wasn't completely depleted from it, he wouldn't mind a drink. His thoughts weren't dark, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to unwind a little bit.

But when he returned to his apartment, instead of being able to drink a little bit, he found the kids waiting for him inside of his apartment, Inoichi there with them. They were all holding up a large banner that had a message finger painted on it.

'Welcome home, Farmer Man!' It was then signed by every single kid in their own unique way, seeing how none of them had learned to write yet.

Kiba's must have been the twin red triangles. Neji's the black, somewhat chubby bird to the corner. Hinata's must have been the orange and yellow blob he guessed must have been a lion. Tenten's was clearly the smiling face with twin buns on its head. And Ino's was undoubtedly the bouquet of flowers that took up a lot of space.

He hadn't even set a foot through his door before the kids had left their stations holding the banner up and ran up to hug him tightly, all the while begging him to never leave for so long again.

Inoichi, instead of helping him get rid of the kids that refused to let him up from the floor, merely laughed at the kids' antics.

* * *

Their first sleepover. How had he allowed himself to be talked into this?

... Right... Hiashi had literally dropped Neji and Hinata off at his doorstep with sleeping bags, telling him that his wife and he would be enjoying a special day together and did not wish to be interrupted. After that, Kiba had arrived, seen the sleeping bags, and rushed back to his home to grab one and return. He didn't ask for permission. The kid had just assumed his mother would let him stay. And then when Inoichi had dropped Ino and Tenten both off, he'd asked Genma what the bags were for. And the traitorous Inuzuka had asked if both girls could stay over for the sleepover.

Damned Inuzuka... Those two always fought with him. Why would he want them to stay?

Genma had a running theory that Kiba may just be a masochist.

But Inoichi had agreed that it wouldn't hurt to let Ino stay over and had said he'd fetch the things she would need and bring them later during the day. And then, when asked about Tenten, he'd said he'd speak to her parents and let them know when he came back.

The day had been spent with Genma figuring out how to keep the kids from killing one another, keep them entertained, and not get his apartment too dirty in the process. Luckily, he had a set of cards and sat them down to teach them how to play a simple game of Go Fish. And that had literally kept them entertained for hours. Although once they'd gotten bored with that, they had begun to finger paint and steal snacks from his fridge. Which led to his apartment finding itself stained once more with all kinds of colorful substances and Hinata tripping over her own feet each time she tried to rush past Genma to keep him from taking back the chocolate she had taken.

But then came the really difficult part. Which had been getting them to take baths so they could get dressed for bed.

Kiba hated water, or so he proclaimed. But Genma knew differently because the kid enjoyed the swimming pool a lot. He just hated having to get clean. And Tenten didn't like being told what to do, so she put up a fight. Neji hadn't wanted to wash his hair like he needed to do every day, which was yet another problem. And Ino had decided that if all her friends were going to be difficult, then she had a right to be so as well. Seriously, she hadn't had a reason to not bathe. She'd just said she didn't want to and had raised hell avoiding Genma.

Hinata was a heaven sent with the four other demon children running around.

Now Genma rested on his couch, one leg being used as a pillow by Tenten, the other by Ino, with Hinata curled up to his chest, and Kiba curled up on the back of his couch right beside his head. Neji had been the only one to use the sleeping bag he had brought, but had placed it right in on top of Genma's feet, effectively pining him onto the couch.

His apartment was a mess. There were shoes and clothes strewn all across the floor. Toys, cards, and even utensils had been scattered all around and even Hinata's stuffed lion was hanging haphazardly over the windowsill his couch faced. Kiba and Ino had managed to knock down a vase, a potted plant, and a framed work of art Genma had in his hallway.

And that wasn't even taking into account the mess that had been made of his only bathroom.

It was a Friday night. Genma wasn't really one to go out and party the weekend away, but he'd always kept a schedule of going out with friends to play poker every once in a while. But ever since he had started taking care of these kids, those nights with friends had become less and less. And he'd even promised Kakashi and Raidou that he'd join them at their strip poker with three kunoichi... But those plans had been ruined by Hiashi appearing with zero consideration for his carefully laid out plans.

It had surprised him that neither of his friends had appeared at his door, demanding to know why he had flaked out on him. And Genma had begun to hope that they would never arrive.

But right when he was comfortable enough to get some shut eye of his own, the lock to his door was opened, his doorknob twisted, and in stepped his best friend of some fifteen years.

For a moment, neither man said a single thing. They just looked at each other with wide eyes. But the more Genma looked at Raidou, the more he noticed the man's lips turning up into a smile. And as soon as it was the patented 'You're in deep shit now, Gen', the senbon enthusiast knew he was screwed.

"Kakashi, find a camera." Well... At least he had the decency to whisper.

"What?" Came the surprised question from the man Genma had yet to see, then there was a grunt as Raidou's elbow connected with his ribs. "I thought we were here to shave Genma's hair off for leaving us stranded."

Raidou rolled his eyes, but the smile never left his face. "Just find me a camera, you idiot. I promise it'll be worth it."

A few seconds passed and then Raidou turned back to Genma, a devious glint shining in his eyes. And Genma knew that nothing good would come out of Kakashi finding a camera. Especially because of the kids he currently found himself pinned down by.

"Raidou, don't you dare." The man hissed with a glare, hoping that his killer intent would be enough to deter Raidou from whatever he thought he was going to do.

But the dark haired man smirked broadly, shook his head, and mouthed 'You're fucked, boy'. Genma's glare turned deadly, and he moved his right arm to grab the senbon in his mouth and send it in the bastard's direction. But before he could even raise it to shoulder level, Ino's hands shot out, grabbed it, and pulled it down to hug it like some kind of stuffed animal.

Kakashi arrived to see this happening. And he gave the camera over to Raidou quickly then disappeared once more. But soon Genma heard his cackling laugh from the hallway, making him frown heavily... Well... He'd been caring enough to bust a seam laughing outside and not where the kids would be able to hear him completely.

Raidou took a dozen different pictures before stepping inside to pat Genma's head softly.

"I never would have taken you for the mother hen type, Gen."

Genma had tried to lash out at him with his mouth. But the bastard moved his hand away before his teeth could even catch skin.

"This is... Raidou, please tell me we're going to use this." Kakashi was now beside Raidou, smirk clear even through his mask. "Can you just imagine how much this will boost morale if we put the pictures up in the jounin headquarters?"

Genma's eyes flew open, "You can't do that!" But he didn't move. He couldn't. He had yet to deal with the children in their recently awoken states and wasn't sure if he wanted to do so at midnight.

"We _will_." Raidou smirked broadly, waving the camera in his hands as if it were a great prize.

"Just consider it payback for ditching us." Kakashi winked with his own visible eye, then turned back to Raidou. "Let's go get these developed."

Then they were gone and Genma breathed out heavily, allowing his head to fall back against the back of his couch.

And he really wanted to be irritated and stay like that. But Hinata shifted on his chest, tightened her grip on his shirt, and nuzzled her head into him. With this, Genma felt the irritation begin to leave him. But then Kiba wrapped his arms around his neck, nuzzled against the side of his head, and sighed in contentment.

These kids would be the death of him.

* * *

Genma had not gone to jounin H.Q after Raidou and Kakashi had snapped those pictures of him with the kids. He had finished a good mission so he wasn't feeling ansty anymore, the kids liked going to his apartment literally every day, and he wasn't all too eager to see what those two jerks had done with the pictures they had taken.

If he wanted a mission, he'd need to go there. That was were all jounin went, either regular or specialized like him. And he wasn't quite eager to see what those horrible friends of his had come up with.

Besides, he heard the way some jounin snickered at him as he walked down the streets with the kids jumping up and after him.

He'd been forced to go on quite a few grocery shopping trips ever since the kids had first appeared. But even more so now that Takeo was going to be working on helping out at the hospital with traumatized shinobi. That meant that they wouldn't have her steady source of lunches. Even though Inoichi would still continue bringing those delicious dinners with him.

For the first time ever since he had met Neji, Genma would have to cook more than just breakfast for the kids. And he wasn't quite sure what to do. He'd never been too picky with his food. Cheapest was best. So he just bought all kinds of instant foods that just needed to be popped into the microwave for any length of time. But his usual diet may not be good for the kids under his care, especially for Hinata and Neji, whom had a pickier taste than the likes of Kiba or Tenten. Ino was caught in between, liking some foods, but despising others.

He'd bought pre-made breaded chicken, a whole lot of rice, some fish he knew he could sauté without too much difficulty, and vegetables. The kids had wanted to buy candy- Kiba had been especially adamant about peanut butter and chocolate and Ino about the much too pricey for his budget chocolate- and sugary snacks, but Genma had managed to talk them out of it.

"Farmer man, let's go to the weapons shop and see what pointy things we can buy!"

"Yeah! I want to buy a kunai!"

Genma glanced down at the two girls with a shake of his head, "Ino, your dad has forbidden you from being anywhere near any kind of weapon after you tried to kill Kiba with that shuriken. And Tenten, you know that your mother doesn't want to see you anywhere near the hospital because you decided to do dangerous things."

Both groaned and threw themselves at his legs, wrapping both arms and legs around him. But the man merely rolled his eyes and continued to walk with both kids weighing his feet down.

This had happened a few times. It had proved to be a very good workout for the legs. Guy would be proud.

"Kiba, don't drop that bag. Those eggs weren't cheap."

"Yeah, yeah. I got this, Genma. Don't worry!" Kiba smirked up at him, the bag filled with a carton of eggs held tightly in both his hands.

From beside the Inuzuka, Genma saw Hinata and Neji sharing the job of carrying the bag filled with a carton milk. They looked adorable. Neji could carry the bag without any trouble. But Hinata was intent on helping her cousin, even though her height posed a problem. Hinata was concentrating on all of her movements, her tongue peeking out just slightly from her lips; Genma had found this was a quirk of hers when she concentrated. And Neji was frowning slightly, trying his best to not accidentally step on his cousin's feet.

He was walking with about six different bags on his arms with Tenten and Ino on his legs, Kiba to his right, and Neji and Hinata to his left. People around them were careful to not get too close to the kids, most probably put off by the fact that there were _four_ clan kids with him, although when they passed by a couple of shinobi, Genma could see the way they began to smile broadly.

If he had once had a reputation for being a badass, walking around with five children around him (with two hanging onto him) had certainly blown those beliefs up.

How could he be badass with kids? ... His reputation would never be the same...

Well, he'd had a good run.

"Farmer man!"

This voice... Did _not_ belong to the kids. It was older and certainly male sounding. It was...

Cursing under his breath, Genma glared at Raidou as he ran up to him.

"Farmer man, it's been a while."

When the bastard was right in front of him, Genma stopped walking. He didn't say anything and instead kept a cool glare on his face. He had yet to see how much damage his best friend had caused, but he knew that there was no way he could ever walk into the jounin headquarters without hearing some kind of joke about being a mother hen.

"Genma?" Ino piped up from his leg, which made the man look down at her with a quirked eyebrow. "Who's this?"

"Hey, kid." Raidou dropped down so he was squatting in front of both girls, smiling broadly. "My name's Raidou. I'm Genma's best friend."

The senbon enthusiast watched as he and Ino interacted, wondering how she would react to him. Raidou wasn't necessarily ugly, but he wasn't the handsomest person around. Even though he didn't really have any marks on his face, he had what Genma lovingly called a perpetual pissed off face.

"I don't like you."

Raidou spluttered in shock at Tenten's strong words. And Genma smirked down at him, silently thanking Tenten for being one of the bluntest kids around.

"Wha- But... Why?"

Ino answered for Tenten with a nod. "Because you can't use that nickname. That's what _we_ call him. You can't use it." Then the blonde looked up at Genma with a tug at his pants. "Let's go, Farmer man. I want nuggets."

Genma nodded at this and began to walk off... But he could hear Raidou's raucous laughter from behind him.

* * *

"But why does _he_ have to be here?"

Genma sighed heavily at the kids collective groan as he stirred the rice he was cooking.

"Because last time you kids stayed over to sleep, you left my apartment looking as if a tornado had ripped through it." He answered with a small shrug, placing the lid on the pot once more before turning to the five children he was to take care of once more for a whole night.

This time it wasn't Hiashi that had started it. It was Inoichi. He was supposed to go out on a last minute interrogation of utmost importance, and had no babysitters to take care of Ino. His wife had died about two years ago, leaving him with only Ino to take care of. Usually, on calls like this, he would have someone from the clan take care of Ino. But for some reason, he had decided that Genma would be the perfect sitter.

He'd then told Hiashi and Tsume about leaving his kid there, which had wound up with both clan heads deciding to also leave their own kids. And not to be left out, Tenten had also climbed aboard.

But Genma had learned his lesson from last time. He couldn't deal with these kids while they were hyped up on sugar all alone.

Besides, Raidou had wanted to meet the kids and show them that he wasn't a complete jerk. Even though he _was_ , Namiashi wanted the kids to see that he was just as good as Genma. Although he had also said that if they didn't respect him, he would discipline them in any way he saw fit.

They were arranged in a line. Ino on the left, Tenten beside her, Kiba beside her, Hinata beside him, and Neji on the other corner. They were all glaring up at him in varying degrees. Neji's was, honestly, the scariest one, while Ino's was the most passionate. Hinata was trying to glare, although failing just slightly and looking adorable while doing so.

"But he's mean!"

The man placed his hands on his hips to mimic Ino's own stance, a small smirk playing on his lips. "I know that. He's my best friend, kid. Believe me when I say I know that he's mean." She huffed and stomped her foot, but Genma merely shook his head. "He'll just be here to help me keep you kids from killing each other. And if does anything _too mean_ , I'll help you kids get your revenge."

He should have known saying that was a horrible idea. These kids took everything at face value. Whatever he said, he took to heart as if it were the only true thing they needed to believe.

Genma would find out how truly evil the kids could be when they put their minds to it. But at the moment, he was happy to be making a simple dish of frozen nuggets with cooked rice to keep the kids from trying to get into the cookie jar.

He hadn't had any cookie jars in his apartment before. Not when he was a kid and his family was still alive. And certainly not once he'd begun to live by himself. But Tenten had deemed cookie jars an explicit need for all households and had made one with the help of her father. Inside were the kids favorite brand of animal crackers.

"Now why don't you kids go ahead and-"

"Honey, I'm home!"

Genma tried his best to keep the smile on his face when the kids glared at him and the door to his apartment slammed open. But he could feel the corner of his lip twitch in annoyance.

"Come on in, Raidou." The man walked over to his friend, who closed the door behind him with a broad smile. "You got here just in time. We're going to start finger painting."

"Sounds good, Farmer man."

A chill went through Genma as he heard these words. But he soon stamped it down and motioned for Raidou to follow him.

They all sat down to paint and Raidou seemed to really enjoy himself as he helped the kids with the paints and papers. He really seemed to want to want the kids to have a good time with him, even with how rude he had undoubtedly come across during their first meeting. It had all been going great. Until Genma stood up to serve the food for them all and Raidou chuckled, "I would like some extra nuggets, mom."

Something had changed after that. The kids had stopped shouting and fighting with one another. And Genma swore he saw them glare at Raidou, even though they always smiled up at him with faked innocence.

As they finished up with their painting and began to play card games, Tenten excused herself to go to the bathroom. And even though Genma found the way she ran off so quickly somewhat suspicious, Hinata asked him to give him some ice cream and his attention was soon taken by the young Hyuga.

He scooped chocolate ice cream into the girl's favorite bowl, a pink and purple one with a lion on it (it had been _hell_ to find, but had been worth it seeing how she didn't eat ice cream without it). And he served some for himself, deciding to enjoy some of the sugary treat. But right when they began to eat in the kitchen, Genma heard a surprised shout from his living room.

"What in the world?" He questioned softly moving to see the living room through the opening in his kitchen where the counter was. "Holy- Tenten!" He shouted, eyes going wide as he saw the girl throwing his kunai and shuriken at a surprised and fumbling Raidou. "Where did you learn to pick a lock?! You're _four_!"

The girl was smiling broadly as she threw the deadly projectiles at his best friend, all the while Ino and Kiba cheered her on from the sidelines. Neji was merely looking at Raidou dodge the objects with almost disinterested eyes.

"Tenten, stop!" He moved to leave his kitchen, but suddenly found Hinata in his way, arms splayed out to stop him from passing. "Hinata, move."

The Hyuga shook her head with face as red as a tomato.

"Neji, Kiba! Go!"

Looking up from the Hyuga, Genma found that Tenten had run out of weapons. But instead of leaving Raidou alone, Neji and Kiba suddenly jumped on him. And because he was slightly off balance from all of the dodging, the man fell to the floor with both kids on top of him. Then, as if all of that hadn't been enough, both girls rushed forward, grabbed the paints that had been left on the floor, and dumped it all over the man's face.

While all of this happened, Raidou was shouting out in surprise and almost fear. And as the girls and boys rubbed the paint into him, Genma couldn't help but smirk.

Maybe now Raidou would finally stop calling him a mother hen. Maybe the kids would finally have scared him enough to stop him.

* * *

Raidou hadn't stopped. If anything, the attack had seemed to make him even worse. And even though Genma had been able to embarrass him in front of Kakashi with the tale of how midgets had made him scream like a little girl, the bastard had gotten the last laugh.

"So, when are you opening the daycare, Genma? Think there'll be room for Raidou and I to work with you?"

Genma hated his friends.

..~..~..

Thank you so much for all the faves, follows, and reviews! You guys are awesome!

Also, don't worry about more kids appearing. More hell spawns will join these kid's rank in the next chapter!

Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3: The Reason why the Kids and Genma all now Share Birthday Parties and How Genma Tried to Keep Monetary Problems to Himself:_ As time went on, Genma found himself becoming accustomed to having little hellions running amok in his home and had accepted the fact that his apartment would never be a fully bonafide bachelor pad ever again. He also happened to come to terms with the fact that birthdays were now the most important thing in the world and he could never forget one. _Ever_. And, really, whenever they seemed to find another rascal to join their horde of hyperactive trouble-makers, it was just one more mouth for Genma to feed... Now if he only had enough money to keep said mouths fed.

..~..~..

It was March. Months of taking care of the kids had bled together and now Genma couldn't really be bothered with trying to ask for more out of the village missions. Especially because whenever he did go out, he found himself stuck with either Yamanaka, Hyuga, or Inuzuka teammates... Or with non-clan members that didn't know how to keep their mouths shut about him being out of place and having to go back to his chicks before they were led astray.

If he had 'accidentally' sent a senbon into a laughing Iwashi's knee after the bastard had asked who the father was, it was merely because he hadn't been paying attention and his concentration on his weapons had slipped. Although the Hokage hadn't bought that excuse and sentenced him to front desk duty at the library for a week as punishment.

In that week was stuck in the library, he was visited by the little mongrels that he had begun to call parasites in his mind. They kind of were just that. They ate all his food, used up all his energy, all but _burned_ all his money, and turned his apartment upside down without giving anything in return... Although a small part of him said they gave him smiles and laughter in return... But Genma ignored that because he _wasn't_ a mushy kind of guy.

On more than one occasion, he'd been forced to steal a book away from their grubby hands because they were in danger of breaking the spine.

"You kids can't read." He'd growled at them, which had then made Ino huff and cross her arms haughtily. "Well then you should teach us!"

That had been where he drew the line, though. Teaching kids how to read and write was _not_ something he had wanted to do. So he'd instead showed them the kids section of the library, the one with all of the books filled with more pictures than words, and then had sat them all down to read to them.

It had been as he was forced to read the story of the turtle that wouldn't quit in her race against the rabbit (whom shared enough similarities with Kiba's own personality that even Hinata had told him he should dress up as a rabbit for Halloween) that two new kids joined the ranks of hellions.

Both clan kids, to Genma's dismay.

"Hey, mom, can we see the story?"

Genma had quirked an eyebrow at the question, but continued to read and point at the vivid images of the turtle going slow and steady, even though the rabbit took breaks here and there because of overconfidence.

"Alright, Chouji. Are you going to go too, Shikamaru?"

"No way that the rabbit is going to lose!" Kiba shouted out as he jumped up, pointing a finger at Genma's face. "He's way too fast! And the turtle's a girl! Everyone knows guys are better than girls!"

Genma leveled the boy with a disinterested look, then passed the page, a small smirk forming on his lips when the boy shouted in shock at his words. "And the turtle passed the sleeping rabbit, well on her way to the finish line."

The three girls began to cheer as Kiba fell to the floor, gripping his head. Neji patted the boy on the head softly, "Overconfidence is a great downfall, Kiba-kun."

"It's not fair... He was going to win..." The boy whispered, eyes wide as he looked at the only other male in the group. "Why did he go to sleep?"

Genma smirked softly at the boy's theatrics, then looked up when he heard and felt two new people approaching him. He guessed that one of these had been the kid he had heard asking for permission to go over to their circle in the kid's corner of the library. Which, really, was more of a semi-circle with kids strewn haphazardly all around in front of him as he sat on an uncomfortably small stump, all resting on top of a rug filled with bright and kind of annoying to the eye primary colors.

They were both clan kids. One an Akimichi from the clear plumpness and symbols that could only belong to a member of that clan. And the other a Nara with dark hair pulled into a ponytail and slightly closed eyes, body language speaking about complete boredom and disinterest.

"Uh... Hi..." The Akimichi waved softly, body language reading of being somewhat shy. "C-could we sit and listen?"

Genma was about to tell them that he had to leave and go back to his front desk duties before someone ratted on him for skipping out on his duties. But before he could, Ino jumped up and ran towards both boys, throwing her arms over them in a hug.

"Shika! Chouji! I'm so glad to see you two again!" She cheered, then grabbed them each by one hand to pull them into the circle of kids and sit them down on either side of her. "This is the farmer I was telling you two about. His name's Genma and he's awesome!"

The Akimichi's eyes widened at this news, even though the Nara just looked at him through narrowed eyes.

Ino knew these two. Said two were undoubtedly best friends from the way they were together and had only been with one of their mother's. Ino was the daughter of the clan head. And he'd be lying if he said that the Nara wasn't the spitting image of one of the laziest people he had ever met in his life. These were Chouji and Shikamaru. Sons of Choza Akimichi and Shikaku Nara respectively.

"Read us another story, Genma!" Tenten suddenly gasped, "This time about a kick ass kunoichi that destroys all the men around her!"

There were no doubts in Genma's mind that Tenten would grow up to be a feminist.

"Ew! No, one about a strong samurai that destroys everyone in his path!"

And he was also pretty sure that Kiba would either end up terrified of women for the rest of his life, or a borderline misogynist. All because Tenten and Ino were so radical in their own beliefs.

As both kids began to argue over what would be the best story to listen to next, Genma felt a tug on his pants leg. And when he looked down, he found Hinata clutching a book with a lion on its cover tightly, pale eyes wide.

"Th-this o-o-one?" She stuttered out, shakily raising the book to him.

This one, though... Her future was still uncertain to Genma. He just hoped she would grow out of her stuttering phase. She wouldn't be taken seriously as a clan head if she stuttered so much.

Giving her an earnest smile, Genma nodded, scooped her up, and opened the book. "The Tale of the Hungry Lion." He smiled at the groans that came from both Kiba and Tenten, but soon began to narrate the tale that Hinata had picked out all on her own.

After that, Chouji and Shikamaru came around more often. At first it was because of Ino. But soon enough Chouji figured out that Genma cooked really good breakfast and asked to go with Inoichi, Ino, and Tenten during the morning to get some. And because wherever he went, Shikamaru followed, the Nara appeared with the Yamanaka as well.

It didn't hurt to have them around, though. Shikamaru was so lazy yet smart that he was able to talk Kiba out of some of his dumbest decisions. He'd even managed to stop a fight between Tenten and Kiba by saying that both genders were troublesome in their own way and it was stupid to fight about it. This had made both firebrands pause for a moment before getting distracted by Chouji asking to bake a pie.

Genma had learned to bake pies because of the Akimichi.

And he'd been forced into another week of duty in the library because some rat that had (wisely) been left unnamed by the Hokage had told the man that Genma had been shirking his duties. Although, this time around, he was forced to read to _all_ the kids that came around from the village, not just those he took care of.

* * *

"Farmer man! Farmer man!"

Genma had just wanted to sleep in on a Sunday. Had that really been too much to ask for? The answer was yes. Because now he found his room overrun with tykes, Kiba and Tenten jumping on his bed but, luckily, missing his body.

"Yeah, Tenten?" He groaned out as he threw his arm over his eyes, trying to sleep for a little bit longer before he had to wake up and deal with the little hellions.

For a moment, everything was quiet. And this made Genma move his arm to look at what was happening. But he immediately regretted doing so when he suddenly found Ino throwing herself on top of his stomach, shouting out, "It's Tenten's birthday!"

All of the breath was knocked away from him. And, really, it was unfair. There were too many kids. They outnumbered him seven to one. And they took advantage of this whenever they needed to get away with something.

"Well, not really. It's in a week." The girl with the buns on her head explained as she sat down on Genma's stomach behind her blonde friend, smiling cheekily at him. "But I want to go out and buy the decorations for the party we'll be having here."

Genma had to force himself to breathe as the words sunk in, trying to not freak out over the fact that Ino had gotten the drop on him like she had. But then, once he was finally breathing normally, he was smacked by the words and he sat up immediately, causing both girls to roll and fall onto his bed.

"What do you mean 'here'?" The man questioned, then looked around the room to see who had appeared.

Shikamaru was nowhere to be found. But seeing how Chouji stood by the door and Ino had been the one to give him such a rude wake up, there was no doubt that the Nara would be lurking around somewhere. Kiba was sitting beside Tenten, head cocked slightly to the side, as he and both girls looked at him in confusion. And Hinata and Neji stood beside Chouji, both looking at him with widened eyes.

"My birthday party will be here, Farmer man. With all my friends and family." The girl answered bluntly, then Kiba piped up. "And all _our_ family too. She invited all of our parents. And even Scarecrow and Bitch Face."

Genma looked back at the kids on his bed and glared at the Inuzuka, "You know you can't be calling those two idiots like that. They have names."

Then Ino smiled broadly with a nod of her own. "Of course, Farmer man. Scarecrow and Bitch Face. Those are their names."

There were a lot more battles with the kids that he lost rather than won. Like the battle over their vegetables. Or their fruits. Or the battle about how they should not be breaking into his home in the middle of the night just because they wanted to sleep over (this was usually Kiba, Neji, and Hinata. The other kids were a bit more okay inside of their own homes).

The battle over what his friends' names were and what they should be called was yet another losing battle.

"It's-" He began, only for all of the kids (including sweet, innocent Hinata, much to his chagrin) to interrupt him. "Too early for this!"

He glared at them all before grabbing the senbon on his nightstand, biting it in a show of annoyance, and walking out of his room with a frown. It wasn't mature of him. But he believed he had a right to be somewhat irritated after the way the kids had decided to wake him up.

When he walked out, though, his irritation was replaced by surprise at the man he found waiting in his family room. Normally, Inoichi would be the one to drop the demons-in-training off. He had expected to either see a blonde man waiting for him by the door or to not see him at all. But this time around, he didn't find Inoichi. Instead he found the Jounin Commander of Konoha, head of the Nara clan, Shikaku Nara.

And he had a small smirk on his lips as he looked at the banner the kids had made for him quite some time ago, which was now strung over his sofa. Oh, there was Shikamaru. Sleeping on his sofa as he owned it.

The Nara reminded him of a prissy cat most days.

"Shiranui." The man turned to him with a nod, eyes dancing with amusement. "I was led to believe that the kids were allowed to enter your home without trouble. Although, I must admit, it was somewhat troublesome to have to disable the traps you set up." The man quirked an eyebrow at this, which made Genma suddenly feel like he were a genin once more getting scolded by his teacher. "Is there any reason why I was the only that was targeted by those traps?"

He had never expected to see either Shikaku or Choza in his apartment, just like he didn't expect Hiashi to try and enter it without waiting for Genma to open the door for him. Because he was the Jounin Commander, Shikaku was always working. Even more so than Choza. There had been no reason for him to believe he'd ever have to worry about his traps targeting him.

Blinking at the man, Genma cleared his throat and tried to chuckle, although it came out as forced and slightly nervous. "Uh..." What could he tell the man? That he had not bothered with including him in those that could enter his home without getting targeted because he never thought they'd ever even have to talk face to face?

He was pretty sure that was a sure fire to end up on the list of all demeaning jobs that the man could hand out. Sure, the Nara clan was calm. But Hiashi was vengeful, Inoichi was mischievous, and Tsume was dangerous. What was to stop Shikaku from being any different from them?

As he faltered for what to say, the kids that had woken him up rudely ran out of his room and towards him, screaming about wanting breakfast and possibly some chocolate. Tenten and Ino wanted the chocolate. Although he swore he heard someone shouting out for chips before his attention was taken by Shikaku once more.

"Inoichi was called up for a last minute interrogation. And Choza is away on a mission, Chouji is staying with us for the next few nights. So Inoichi asked me if I could escort his usual charges to your apartment." Shikaku explained himself as he looked at all of the kids running circles around Genma, "Are you able to complete missions while you take care of so many children?"

"Mah, you're being boring again, Pineapple Head!" Kiba stopped in his running to glare at the clan head, managing to surprise and stump Genma at how rude he was being. "Why don't you leave already so we can go ahead and get ready for Tenten's birthday party?"

This man _wasn't_ , technically, Genma's boss. He was just the jounin that knew all jounin, their strengths and weaknesses, and helped the Hokage assign them to the missions in which they would be the most useful. And to have Kiba disrespect him like that made Genma begin to worry that he may just find himself completing a few D-ranks for the next few weeks.

"Tenten... That's the one with..." The man looked at the three girls that were still busy running around, then pointed at the correct girl. "The buns. Am I correct?"

This made the girl stop and smile broadly, "I'm turning five! And we're having the party here!"

"Tenten, you are _not_ -" Genma was about to put a stop to this whole nonsense. But then Shikaku interrupted him with a quirked eyebrow and amused smirk that both irked and worried him.

"Oh, really? And you are going to use today to find the decorations?" The Nara questioned, then placed his hands on his hips, closing his eyes as he continued to speak. "Well, I believe I could help you find everything you need. Today is my day off, after all. And I am sure Genma wouldn't mind me coming along to help."

The man's words made all of the kids stop running and look at him. And then the kids glanced at one another, clearly confused and curious as to why a clan head that wasn't Inoichi would want to tag along with them. But soon Kiba shrugged at his friends and looked at the man. "You can come, I guess... But only if you promise to buy me chocolate!"

"Kiba!"

Shikaku waved Genma off, though, and chuckled with a small nod. "Sure thing, Inuzuka. I'll buy you all some candy. Is that good?"

Kids were easy to understand. If you offered them candy, they'd love you. If you insulted them, though, they'd hate you.

Because he had promised them candy, Shikaku soon found himself with all of the kids running around him... Well, all but Shikamaru who just slept on the couch, snoring softly.

~/~

After he had gotten dressed (self conscious for some reason about the fact that _Shikaku Nara_ had seen him shirtless) (seriously, it felt as if _Hiashi_ had seen him shirtless), given breakfast to the terrible tykes, and made sure they were all ready for the day, he and Shikaku had gone out to the village to find the things Tenten would need for her birthday party.

He was going to be hosting a birthday party for a four year old going on five year old. And she had, apparently, invited all of her friends and their families there.

This meant that his apartment would be crawling with clan heads, clan heirs, and who knows who else. And it was anything but prepared for adult company. There were signs of the kids _everywhere_. From discarded clothes, broken or damaged toys, paint on the walls, unidentifiable stains, and paintings strewn all about, their influence in his life was extremely clear.

"We need balloons! And a giant cake! Chouji, do you think your mom could make the cake?"

Tenten was chattering happily about everything that came to her mind about that had to do with her birthday. She was jumping animatedly at the front of the group, Ino beside her and Kiba following inches away. Hinata was holding onto his hand like she always did, all the while Neji, Ino, and Shikamaru walked behind the three fastest children. Shikaku was lagging behind him, taking his sweet time as he walked. He was not helpful... _At all._ But at least he wasn't judging Genma like someone like Hiashi would have done.

"Yeah, I think she could. Mr. Nara, could we go and ask her today?"

"Sure thing, Chouji."

Tenten's grin was huge as she cheered, then gasped dramatically when she found the store she had been looking for. The party store.

Genma could already _feel_ the dent this would make in his pocket.

"Let's go, my minions!"

Kiba and Chouji ran after her without any hesitation. And Ino and Neji looked at one another for a moment before running after them, even though Shikamaru and Hinata stayed behind.

Genma sighed softly as he began to wonder just how he could explain budgets to the clearly overjoyed children. The money he made was steady. But it was stable for one person. Not for one adult and seven children. Because he had been taking care of the kids for so long, Genma had gotten accustomed to stretching his dollars. But he wasn't sure how he could help pay for the girl's birthday party while still keeping himself fed.

If he just stopped eating dinner until he was able to get a good A or S-Rank, he should be able to pay for a few things...

He made the calculations before nodding to himself and walking into the store after the children. He could deal without dinner. And, if the worst happened, then he could just tell Raidou, Kakashi, or Iwashi to give him food. Or he could even ask Teuchi if he didn't mind being nice and giving him a house special, three went for regular price, and the last one went free. If it were like that, then he could just drag those same three bastards down to the ramen shop and make them buy the food.

"I like your hair!"

"R-really? Are you s-sure?"

Genma was surprised to not hear the children screaming and being threatened with getting kicked out of the shop. It had happened before. He had made the great mistake of taking them all to an ice cream shop after he had finished telling them about one of his old missions from when he was back on a genin team. And that had ended up with the children trying to run up walls and throwing spoons as if they were kunai.

"It's pink, Tenten. Pink isn't a- Youch! You little- Ow! Stop hitting me, you- Ah!"

Kiba really needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut. It was amusing yet sad to see him committing the same mistakes.

The party shop had rows upon rows of party supplies. There were so many different kinds of things to buy for a party that it seemed like the store was overflowing and nearly bursting with its wares. It was easy to get lost in this place. Luckily, though, the kids were loud. So finding them only took Genma a few seconds.

And when he found the five kids, he felt his heart sink just slightly. They were with a new girl. This one with short pink hair and wide green eyes.

Immediately, Genma prepared himself for the question that would eventually come. And after Tenten had run around the whole story with the girl grasped by the hand, handing all kinds of things to Kiba, Neji, and Chouji to carry so they could buy, she came up to Genma with a broad smile on her face.

"This is Sakura Haruno and her parents are civilians. Her birthday is on March 28 and I want us to share our birthdays!"

The girl was flustered and seemed about ready to tell Tenten that she didn't have to do that. But then Ino appeared, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, and pointed at herself with her thumb.

"Don't worry, Sakura! I'll keep the boys from being too stupid!" She promised, then looked up at Genma. "She's coming to lunch with us, you know?"

"Do her parents even know?" The man questioned, which made the both spitfires blink at him in confusion.

"Why would they need to know?"

After explaining to them that if they took Sakura without telling her parents, he would be arrested for kidnapping and thrown in jail, the girls asked Sakura where her parents were. And after a very flustered conversation about the girls wanting to invite Sakura to go with them to a man that, even though wasn't a shinobi, kind of scared Genma (all the while the rest of the kids ran amok behind him and even managed to topple a display case), Genma found himself having to explain to his kids that they could not bring anyone that they wanted into their little cult.

Sakura's parents had said that they would think about sharing her birthday party with kids they did not know. And that they would pass by his apartment tomorrow to get acquainted in a better way with him. But they could not be expected to allow their only girl to go off with some man they had never even seen before just because the kids he happened to take care of (none of whom were his own biological children) wanted Sakura to be their friend.

Kiba had said Sakura's parents were stupid. Tenten had agreed. Neji had told them that they were being childish. All the while Ino just moped about not having another female friend around. Chouji, Shikamaru, and Hinata had all been much less vocal about the whole situation.

After all of that, and apologizing to Sakura's parents for Kiba having almost hit the girl's father with a packet of balloons, he had ended up paying for Tenten's party supplies.

Some had been pink. Which stood out, considering how Tenten had always said she hated the color.

But he hadn't said anything about it. When these kids got something in their minds, it was near impossible to make them forget about it. They wanted Sakura to be part of their group. And who was he to dash their hopes away so quickly? Maybe Sakura's parents would actually pass by and allow her to be friends with the insane bunch.

... Handing over the money had hurt him. Especially because he could feel Shikaku's eyes on his back as he tried to force himself to part with his hard earned pay for the eldest of the kids he took care of.

He ended up having to skip dinner a few times after buying the party supplies for a party he didn't even want to throw.

* * *

Sakura's parents actually did pass by his apartment the next day. Luckily, though, they passed by late enough to find the kids taking a very uncharacteristic nap.

He had made sure to tire them out more so than usual just in case the civilians did pass by. Genma knew that they would feel out of place in the shinobi part of Konoha and had decided that he'd do everything in his power to make them feel somewhat comfortable. So he had picked up most of the kids' mess in his apartment, set the sleeping children down on his only bed, taken note that he should buy another bed for days like these, and then taken out the pie that Chouji and Hinata had helped him make from the oven.

"You would understand if we were confused, Mr. Shiranui." Sakura's mother, Mebuki, smiled softly at him as he served slices of pie on plates.

"Please, call me Genma. Mr. Shiranui makes me feel older than I am." The man smiled back as he placed the pie on the counter and took the plates towards the civilians, then went towards his refrigerator to grab a can of whipped cream. Without thinking about it, he squirted some onto Sakura's pie, making her look at him wide eyed.

He froze as soon as he noticed what he had done.

All of the kids liked whipped cream on their pie slices. It had become second nature for him to do this. So, without even thinking about what he was doing, he had guessed that Sakura would like some as well.

"I'm sorry." He chuckled nervously, bringing up his hand to scratch at the back of his head. "The kids usually like whipped cream... If you don't, I could change your slice."

She didn't answer. And Genma guessed that she must have really hated whipped cream if she had yet to move. But when he was about to take the plate away, she smiled broadly up at him.

"I love whipped cream!"

The pinkette then dug in, green eyes shining in amazement at how delicious the pie was.

Seeing how the tension had been defused, Genma returned to his fridge to place the canister inside once more, then grabbed the milk carton and offered some to the Harunos. All three nodded at him and he soon grabbed three cups and served them the milk.

That was the last bit of milk... He'd have to steal some more from Raidou.

"Do you take care of these children often, Genma?" Sakura's father questioned after savoring the pie for a moment, which made Genma smile tiredly at him.

"Just about every day, sir. I have inadvertently become a babysitter." With this he chuckled softly, falling onto the chair in front of them as he passed a hand through his hair.

They had played Steal Genma's Bandanna! and it had tired _him_ out. The kids had played in teams of three, while Hinata and Neji aided Genma in keeping them away. But that had ended up with the Hyuga double crossing him and winning.

Hinata looked outright adorable with his bandanna wrapped around her head.

"I know they seem like a rowdy bunch, but they're mostly clan kids." Genma began to explain, looking at the man honestly. "They all kind of knew one another in some way when they became friends. Although Tenten _does_ have a civilian mother."

This seemed to ease the three a little bit. Then Mebuki asked, "But how do you have time to take care of all of them? And where are their parents in this picture?"

Genma leaned back slightly as he rolled the senbon in his mouth, then shrugged, "Going about their regular lives, I would guess. I didn't really tell any of them I would take care of the munchkins. They were just kind of dumped on me. And I don't really mind, seeing how they all keep me occupied." _And broke_ , he mentally added in slight chagrin, but soon smiled at the three Haruno's. "I'm not telling you that you should bring Sakura here every day. Just give her a chance to see if she really wants to be friends with some of these kids. Ino and Tenten were both especially eager to be her friend. Then; but only if you're comfortable with it; you can let her become part of the usual crowd. If you're not comfortable with that, though, I don't see any problem with setting up play dates for the girls."

He sounded like a parent. He wasn't even old enough to drink and he sounded like he could actually be these kids' father.

What had they done to him?

Mebuki and her husband exchanged looks for a moment, then the woman nodded. "Would you mind meeting with us tomorrow in front of the Hokage Mountain? We were going to have a picnic there and I believe it would be a good way to see if Sakura gets along with your kids."

 _Your kids_.

Genma felt like telling the woman that they weren't _his_. But before he could say so, a wild Kiba suddenly appeared, running around shirtless and with shaving cream on his head.

"What should we bring?" The boy asked animatedly, "Genma and Chouji can make pie!"

"Kiba, what are you doing awake?" Genma stood up from his chair to grab at the boy, but the Inuzuka was too quick. "And how did you get into the shaving cream? Did you learn how to pick locks from Tenten?!"

"Yup! Catch me if you can, Farmer man!"

His apartment then found itself covered in shaving cream as well. And he had sworn that Kiba would be the reason why they would not be able to befriend Sakura.

But when he had finally caught the hyperactive little shit and turned to apologize, he found Sakura giggling, Mebuki chuckling softly, and Kizashi smirking at him.

"Would you mind bringing enough pie for all of the children?"

He had honestly expected Sakura to not want to be around him after Kiba's little show of hyperactivity and messiness.

It sucked that he was wrong so often nowadays.

* * *

The picnic with Sakura and her parents had gone off rather well... Actually, considering how it was _these kids_ , it had gone amazingly.

Only Kiba had ended up crying, but that was after the girls had all teamed up on him, tied him up with some rope Genma had _no idea_ as to where it had come from, and painted him up like a beautiful clown; complete with fake eyelashes too.

Mebuki and Kizashi had both been left aghast and horrified by what the girls had all managed to do. But Genma had just laughed, told Kiba that he should _really_ learn to keep his mouth shut, and then helped him untie himself.

Sakura came around once every week. Both of her parents worked, but her mother did so in a hairdressing salon, so oftentimes the girl went with her to her job. But whenever the pinkette arrived with either her mother or father behind her, she threw herself at Ino and Tenten, immediately beginning to chatter animatedly about everything that had happened to her in the time they had spent apart.

Even though both of her parents wanted her to be somewhat polite and kind, Genma knew that Sakura was slowly being corrupted by the kids. And after he had ended up having to run off some bullies that had target her because of her hair and somewhat large forehead, he believed that it wouldn't really hurt her to be corrupted by them.

* * *

The money being waved in front of him both enticed and angered Genma.

He needed it. He was done to cheese and crackers for his meals to be able to keep the kids fed whenever they visited. But the fact that this man was offering him the money... It felt like a handout. And he _hated_ pity.

"I can't accept that. I'd be doing the same thing I do every other day." Genma shook his head as he crossed his arms. "I'm not going to take any money from you for something I would gladly do for free."

Pride was something that sometimes did him in. Even though he was usually calm and collected, only ever really losing his cool when the kids _really_ pushed his buttons, he had a very big flaw that _wasn't_ the laziness most thought. He was prideful. He would never rely on someone to do something he could do himself. That was why he had toolboxes filled with instruments to use whenever his toilet broke down or his faucet began to leak.

His landlord didn't like it, but had grown to accept the fact that Genma would never ask him to fix anything.

So, even if he was currently kind of hungry after having eaten a small amount of leftovers while he watched the kids eat healthy servings of breakfast, he wouldn't accept the money.

"You're being troublesome, Shiranui." Shikaku breathed out with annoyance clear on his face, "And what we are asking you _is_ different from what you normally do. We want you to come to a clan head meeting to take care of all of the children. That means we're asking you to leave your apartment for a night and care for the children _outside_ of your usual setting. And for your service, we're offering a reasonable amount of money."

He could tell that Shikaku really didn't want to argue with him. But Genma wasn't about to let him win so easily. Jounin Commander or not, Shikaku couldn't think he could get Genma to do whatever he wanted.

"You're offering to pay me to take care of less kids and do even less things than I usually do." The man deadpanned, crossing his own arms and jutting his hip out slightly to the side. It was one of Ino's many quirks. He had seemed to adopt it without even noticing it. "If I don't accept money from when you guys leave the mongrels for days on end at my apartment, why would I take it now?"

"Because you would be having to deal with the likes of Shino Aburame and Sasuke Uchiha aside from your usual charges." Shikaku answered with as much a deadpan as the one Genma had used, then smirked slightly, "If anything happens to either of those kids, it'll be your head. So as an extra incentive to make sure you don't allow things to get too out of hand, we clan heads decided to give you this money."

They wanted him to take care of all the children that belonged to the large clans of Konoha. Not only the six clan children he had been taken care of for a while now but also two he had never even met before. One of which was Shibi Aburame's son... The other which was _Fugaku Uchiha's_ son...

He knew he had paled. But Shikaku didn't have to chuckle so amusedly.

"I don't think I want to take the job then, not even with money being offered."

"Too late." The Nara slapped Genma's chest with the wad of bills, letting go of it. And Genma immediately caught the bundle that fell into his hands, glaring at the man before him. "The kids are already excited to have their trusty farmer around to play Steal Genma's Bandana with."

~/~

If Hiashi was scary, Fugaku was terrifying. And he made sure to give express instructions on how to care for his youngest son, adding a good threat to ensure that he was treated with respect and reverence and Uchiha deserved.

Genma had been forced to hold Kiba back before he tried to bite the man's foot as he walked away.

The Clan Head Meeting was taking place in the Hokage's office. And they had been allowed to go into the gardens outside for the children to be able to stretch their legs and have fun while their parents discussed all the things that would normally bore them.

Even with Fugaku's clear distrust of the children and Genma, Sasuke integrated into the group without too many difficulties. He was respectful and kind, yet seemed to enjoy having fun and had no qualms about chasing after Kiba to play tag with him. Ino busied herself braiding Neji's hair while he braided Hinata's own short one. And Shikamaru and Chouji lay on the bushes around the small garden, cloud watching even as the sun set.

Genma would have considered this a good day... If not for the lonely Aburame standing by the edge of the garden, quiet as he examined the plant life in front of him.

He had known that Sasuke and Shino would be the wild cards for this meeting. All of the other kids already knew each other and enjoyed hanging out. They were outsiders and even with how accepting the kids were, Genma knew that they wouldn't jump on the chance of befriending someone as odd looking as Shino.

Seriously, why was the kid covered from head to toe? Sure, it was pretty cute to see a miniature sized Shibi walking around, but it was also kind of scary. Was this kid supposed to be three?

"Hey, you're cheating!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Sasuke and Kiba were arguing. But soon enough Chouji ran up to them, tagged Kiba, and took off running, effectively distracting both boys by making him the tagged person.

He was kind of disappointed with the fact that the kids hadn't tried to bring Shino into the cult like they had done with Sakura. But he wasn't about to leave someone so innocent feel the harshness of being ostracized by those his age.

"Yo."

Shino looked up at him through dark sunglasses, but said nothing. Instead he just stared and waited for Genma to continue.

"What are you looking at?" He questioned, crouching so he could get a closer look at what the Aburame was observing.

The boy seemed to think on his answer for a moment before relenting, "My brother told me that there might be rare bugs inside of the Hokage's garden... But all I am seeing is common species of bugs that I could find all around Konoha."

There was a bit of disappointment in the boy's otherwise level tone.

The senbon enthusiast quirked an eyebrow at his words for he had never heard of Shibi having had a son before Shino. But he didn't question it and instead asked, "Would you like to play a game with me and the rest of the kids? You could be on my team."

Shino glanced up at him and Genma _really_ wanted to be able to read his expression. But seeing how his face was mostly covered, he couldn't.

"Are you sure you wish to play with me?"

"I'm asking you, aren't I?"

The boy cocked his head to the side slightly, but soon nodded. And when he did this, Genma smiled at him, motioned for him to follow, then called for the kids to get into a line in front of him so they could play their favorite game.

Shino proved to be incredibly smart and good at planning ahead. Sasuke wasn't as impulsive as Kiba, but he wasn't as thoughtful as Shikamaru or Shino. And by the end of the night, Genma's team had won most of the bouts because Shino and Hinata both proved to be a good team.

When the clan heads walked out of the meeting with the Hokage right behind them, they were met with the sight of Genma running with Hinata and Shino carried under one arm each, six other tykes following quickly after him. And when the man stopped running to be able to return the kids to their respective parents, he found Hinata crawling up his back to grab his bandanna.

"Shino-kun! Neji-nii-san! Our plan worked!"

He had been double crossed by Hinata again. He should have learned from the past game, but Hinata was much too cute. How could he _not_ trust her?

Besides, it was amusing to see Hiashi look so surprised by his daughter's actions. It was about time he saw that he didn't need to be strict with discipline at all times to make her grow strong.

Fugaku hadn't seemed all the amused with his son taking part of so much fun, but Genma didn't have any time to hear him get angry because he was soon being thanked by Shibi Aburame for having included Shino into the game. And, upon noticing that Genma was in for a conversation, the Uchiha had left in a huff.

"It was nothing, Shibi. That was what you left him with me for, right? To have fun?"

The man nodded silently as Shino walked over to him, then Genma patted the top of the boy's head, on top of the hood, with a smile.

"You know, I take care of these kids just about every day. I wouldn't mind if you brought Shino around every now and again so he'll be able to play with the kids."

This would be the first time Genma would bring a kid into the pack of rabid animals that were the kids he took care of. But it wouldn't be the last.

* * *

It was time for Sakura and Tenten's shared birthday. His apartment had been cleaned up to the best of his extent, although he had not been allowed by any of the kids to take down any of the decorations they had put up.

His apartment looked as if a glittery princess and badass tomboy had fought all over how it should have been decorated and had settled on a midway point.

There were ninja like decorations- kunai, fans with knife tips, paper swords, fake hitai-ite, and shuriken were the most seen- strewn all around. Tenten's contributions to the party. Then there were flower petals, pink tiaras, and paper princesses set up all around in an almost balanced way when compared to the abundance of ninja decorations, which had been bought for Sakura.

When Tsume had arrived, she had complemented Tenten's style while asked why in the world they would have princesses in a place for ninja. Then Kiba had barked at her that Sakura was a civilian, made the woman turn to look at the little girl, and then had promptly received a smack upside the head because he had not told her she would need to bring two different gifts. Then the woman had told Sakura she was going to find her something she may like and had run out of his apartment.

The pinkette had been left stunned by the terrifying looking woman and Genma had not blamed her. But then he'd patted her on the back, told her Tsume was not so scary when someone got to know her, and directed her towards the refreshments table where Tenten and Ino were struggling to get something to drink while their parents spoke with one another.

When someone actually knocked on his door, Genma was surprised. Then he remembered that he had invited Shino and Shibi to come as well and guessed that it must have been them. Hinata and Neji had already been left by Hiashi and no one else bothered with knocking anymore. Inoichi had just about muscled his way into his home, Tsume had thrown the door open, and Takeo and Takeshi had entered a bit more composed than the rest, but had not knocked either.

The bastard known as Kakashi had climbed into his apartment through his _room's_ window. And, really, Genma couldn't understand why Tenten had invited him and Raidou if she hated both men so much. But they seemed to be having fun doing their best to avoid making Hinata cry as she asked them to help her in the bathroom.

Genma had a feeling that the girl had been put up to this by her friends.

Still, he walked over to his door and opened it, smiling softly when he found Shino standing beside his father with two neatly wrapped gifts in his hands.

"Come on in, guys. Shino, you can put the gifts on the coffee table. And then... Well... You know how my apartment works by now."

The boy nodded and walked to place the gifts beside the rest that had been brought for the birthday girls, then Shibi asked, "At what time should I come to pick Shino up?"

The question actually surprised Genma. Then he remembered that Shibi was still new to their group and was still being cordial and polite. He had yet to dump his kid on Genma's shoulders without a single word like the rest had taken to doing.

"Well... I haven't thought about that, actually." Genma admitted, cocking his head to the side slightly. "I'm pretty sure the rest are just going to let their kids sleep over... But you could also stay here. Tsume, Inoichi, Kakashi, Raidou, and Tenten's parents are all here. And I'm not bad company either."

He chuckled lamely when Shibi just stared at him, then cleared his throat and shrugged. "But, seriously, I'll understand if you stay or go. I know you're still getting used to the whole swing of this... Whatever this is."

"I believe normal people would call it a daycare, Mother!"

Kakashi suddenly popped up behind him, wrapping an arm around him to salute lazily at Shibi. "You see? Your clientele is expanding!"

Genma had half a mind to bonk Kakashi on the head and throw him to the wolves that were the children. But the man soon slinked away and towards Raidou to most probably avoid his wrath.

"If it is alright, I would like to stay for a little while." Shibi reminded Genma that he was still there, which made the man nod and step aside.

"Sure thing. There are snacks laid out on that table, along with fruit punch and plates. And if you'd like some more adult drinks, Raidou placed some beers in the fridge."

The Aburame nodded and made his way towards Inoichi, striking up a conversation without too much difficulty.

Genma turned to face the rest of the kids and found Kiba and Neji run up to him, panting softly.

"Farmer man, Bitch Face said your birthday's on July! Is that true?"

"Is it true, Genma-San?"

Genma blinked at both children before nodding dumbly. And suddenly he found his arms full, both boys having jumped on him to hug him.

"We're sharing our birthday with Farmer man!"

"What?! No fair! _I_ wanted to share with him!" Ino stomped her foot in anger, running up to them with a glare on her face.

And one by one the children ran to him, shouting about _they_ wanted _him_ to share their birthday. Even Shino agreed that he would not mind to share his birthday with the man that took care of all of them.

Looking up from the crowd of munchkins, Genma found that all of the adults in the room were looking at him. Inoichi, Takeo, and Takeshi were all smiling, Shibi was covered up like his son so he couldn't really see if he was smiling or not, and Kakashi and Raidou were snickering conspiratorially. And in their hands...

"You sons of-" Genma tried to move away from the kids to try and smack the camera away from his bastards of friends. But they were a solid wall that he couldn't pass through. And jumping over them may just end up giving Shibi the worst impression of him possible, so he didn't dare do it.

"Oh, come on, Genma!" Raidou smirked as he raised the camera, "It's a perfect shot for the scrapbook!"

And none of the other adults there did anything to help him.

~/~

The cake had been huge. Chouji's mom had really outdone herself.

After the whole picture debacle, Genma had been treated to quite the sight. The kids playing pin the tail on the annoying men. Raidou and Kakashi had both been forced to run and jump away from them to avoid getting stabbed with a donkey tail. And Genma had rejoiced in every second of it.

When Shikaku, Choza, Yoshino, and Chiasa arrived with the cake, the children had all been amazed by how beautiful it was. It was the perfect blend of Tenten and Sakura if Genma could tell the truth. Girly and filled with ninja. Pink, red, black, and blue. And at the top of the second tier was a beautiful princess with swords in her hands, while the kunoichi beside her had a tiara on her head.

Both girls had been amazed by how beautiful it was. And then Kiba had begun to clamor about how he wanted a cake that cool for his, Neji, and Genma's joint bash. Which had then ended up with all of the kids arguing about whose cake would be the best once their birthdays all rolled around.

Now all of the kids were sleeping on whatever surface they had managed to drop onto and the adults were helping Genma clean up. Neji had somehow managed to climb onto the kitchen counter and fall asleep there. Shikamaru was curled up with Chouji on the sofa. And Ino and Shino had, amazingly enough, managed to climb to the top of his refrigerator and fall asleep together. He didn't know how. He just know they had gotten there and neither he nor Inoichi or Shibi had tried to stop them.

All the adults were helping... All but Kakashi and Raidou. They were busy being used as pillows by Kiba, Hinata, Tenten, and Sakura.

"Get them off of me, Shiranui." Raidou hissed as Genma picked up cups that had been left along the floor.

"Come on, I've got a mission tomorrow." Kakashi whined from his spot on the floor, arms pinned to his sides by the Inuzuka on top of him.

"Hmm... I _could_ help..." Genma clicked the senbon against his teeth for a moment, then smirked at both men, "Or I _could_ find that camera and take pictures of you both."

"No!"

"Here you are, Shiranui." Shibi suddenly appeared beside him with the camera, offering it to the man. Genma quirked an eyebrow at him, but the Aburame just looked at the angered men caught beneath the children. "I believe these pictures would make good companions to the ones already in the jounin headquarters. Don't you agree, Shikaku?"

"Completely, Shibi." The Nara smirked at both men, "Especially now that they'll be getting a taste of their own medicine."

Genma snapped a lot of pictures of them. But he also took a few of the rest of the children in the odd spaces they had chosen to sleep in. And, finally, when his apartment was clean, he got all of the adults together to take a quick picture of all of them.

..~..~..

Hope you all liked it! It's the longest chapter until now! Naruto will appear in the next chapter, and there will be more to see of Sasuke too. Just like there will be more to see of Kakashi and Raidou and their misadventures with Genma's horde!

Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4: The Way Genma Tried, Failed, and Somehow Succeeded in Getting Partially Over the Fourth Hokage's Death:_ There was the little blonde boy Genma wanted _nowhere_ near him, who seemed to have become the kids' newest friend in less than literally a minute. Even though he tried to keep them away, the kids insisted... But... Well, at least the Uchiha siblings were around to distract him whenever the kids tried to get out and force the blonde to come into his apartment.

..~..~..

He ended up sharing his birthday with Kiba and Neji. It had been a rather interesting birthday, if he could tell the truth. Especially considering that the cake had somehow managed to encompass all their three personalities in one three tiered cake.

The bottom tier had been green and designed for Genma. It had been simple with grass painted onto the bottom, but not much more to it. Something that he really appreciated considering how crazy the top tier ended up being. Dogs, kunai, a running figurine of Kiba chasing after another of Neji while Genma sat over the bottom tier with his arms clasped behind his head.

Unlike with Tenten and Sakura's birthday, Hiashi had actually stayed to celebrate his nephew's birthday. And Genma honestly believed that the man had been left both shocked and somewhat traumatized by the way the kids played. And how Neji decided that he would like to wear his hitai-ite like Genma did in a bandanna that covered up his forehead.

If the surprise was a good or bad thing, Genma wasn't sure. He just knew that Hiashi spent more time with Neji than before, apparently training him after the birthday party to be prepared for the Academy. This had meant that Hinata and Neji were brought to his apartment later than usual and weren't allowed to sneak out at all hours like before. But Neji seemed happy to talk to Genma about everything he learned, so the man didn't worry too much about it.

The party had been thrown in the park where he had first met Neji. All of the clan heads had been there and all of the kids had spent quite a stellar time playing games and having fun. It had been pretty amusing to see the children running around, having fun, and even inviting the other adults aside from Genma, Raidou, and Tsume to play along with them.

They had even tried to get 'Scarecrow' to play along with them and failed adorably. Kakashi was much too cool to play with any children. And when the children had tried to get at him for having ignored them, they had tried to surprise attack him in a manner similar to how they had attacked Raidou. Which had failed (they all blamed the fact that they didn't have proper ninja weapons) and Kakashi had wound up crouching up on a tree branch with mirth clear in his only visible eye.

Sakura had been left pretty shocked by all of the insanity all the kids could bring. Shino, though, had melded pretty well and even did his best to help his new friends try and capture the ever elusive Copy Cat Nin.

After that party, the kids had made it their life's mission to capture the man and embarrass him like they had Raidou.

Oh, right, and as their joint birthday gift to him, all of the children gave him this adorable pair of fuzzy duck slippers that quacked with each step. And it was really adorable when they handed it to him, because they had their own specific reasons as to why they had decided he needed it.

"You're always running around after us! You need something more comfortable than ninja sandals if you're going to continue wrangling us!" Kiba had shouted with a broad smile.

"It'll make you remember me whenever you look at the bright yellow!" Ino had told him with an arm slung over Sakura's shoulders, all the while the pinkette had smiled somewhat awkwardly up at him.

"You need more color in your life." Tenten had huffed with a nod, only for Neji to step forward and agree, "And their beaks are orange. Your favorite color."

He honestly had no idea where the kid had gotten that from. But before he could tell the that, no, orange wasn't his favorite color, Shino took one step forward and said, "And ducks are your favorite animals."

He had no idea where these kids had gotten these ideas from. He really had no idea whatsoever. And from the way the rest of the adults looked, even they couldn't understand.

But as he held those slippers in his hands and looked at the way all of the kids looked up at him with hopeful and wide eyes, the man couldn't really tell them that he didn't want them. So he instead smiled broadly, told them that he loved them, and tried them on at the insistence of the kids.

After that he began to wear them just about everywhere when the kids asked him to. He didn't really mind the way they quacked with each step and they were actually extremely comfortable and fuzzy.

It was a good birthday.

* * *

Sasuke hadn't really come to his apartment at all. Even though Genma had been forced to work a few times with the clan head kids at least four more times since the first time. Fugaku wasn't really all that eager to have his son running around with the ruffians that were the kids and Genma really couldn't be bothered to try and fight against a man that would most probably respond violently.

But that all changed when August rolled around.

He was still kind of struggling with money, but had been able to make ends meet. The money given to him by Shikaku for the past four clan head meetings had been enough for him to be able to afford to not have to skip dinner every single night. And he had also been able to go on a few missions to keep himself afloat. So, while he wasn't about to be able to buy any fancy food or exotic objects, he was able to keep himself and all of the kids fed.

One lazy afternoon in which the kids were running around his apartment like the true mongrels they were, throwing all kinds of objects without any worry.

Normally, Genma would have scolded them and told them to stop being so destructive. But after a particularly difficult mission in which he had been forced to work with two overly snooty shinobi that didn't know how to keep their mouths shut, he really didn't care if they broke anything.

He could just tell their parents that they had broken shit and get them to replace it if the worst came.

As he served himself coffee- as black as Neji's hair- he heard someone knock on his door. And with a crash from his bedroom, he heard the kids scrambling to move and answer. But he had learned his lesson weeks ago about letting them open the door when an innocent courier had come to bring him a mission scroll and had wound up getting trampled over.

"The kid that touches the door will have to wash my laundry!"

Immediately the sounds of their stampeding stopped. And when Genma walked out of the kitchen, he found all of the children staring at him with wide eyes, reminding him a lot of deer when they heard a twig snap near them.

"Retreat!" Kiba screamed, immediately running away from the door to return to his bedroom.

Genma hadn't liked the kids using his bed as a fort and play place. But that had been yet another battle he had lost and now allowed them to go inside and play as long as they promised to not go through his closet. He had cleaned his drawers out and thrown everything that may have been dangerous and/or raise suspicions as to his character.

The rest of the children scurried back, and he could see among the mass of bodies that Hinata and Sakura were both wearing some of his bandannas, all the while Neji and Tenten wore the ones they had been gifted by him.

Because he didn't really have much money for extravagant gifts, Genma had given all of the birthday kids simple gifts. For Tenten, a red bandanna. Sakura had gotten an emerald green one. Kiba had gotten a gray one with skulls and bones on it. And Neji had received a dark navy blue bandanna that he proudly wore over his head without any qualms.

They all looked pretty adorable, if he could tell the truth. Especially because of the way that Raidou was now insisting that this was not a daycare anymore, it was a _cult_.

When he reached the door, he opened it with a small shake of his head and sip at his coffee. He, really, did not bother with appearances anymore. He hadn't been one to care much for them before. And now that the kids had basically turned his life upside down, he cared even less. He was shirtless, wore a loose set of pants, and the fuzzy duck slippers that quacked.

He had been forced to lock up all of his senbon after Neji had tried to teach his devilish compatriots how to use them. And because he couldn't deny Hinata anything, she always managed to get the ones he rolled around in his mouth. So, while they were in the house, he was forced to bare the loneliness of his mouth having nothing to occupy itself with.

Like on most days, he expected to find one of the parents, a clan member looking to pick their respective kid up, or a courier. But the people before him were none of these.

"Itachi?"

The dark haired youth looked up at him with a cold gaze that just didn't seem right on someone that was only _eight_ , "Shiranui-San. I am sorry for this abrupt meeting. But I must ask a favor of you."

He had never worked with Itachi personally. The boy was a prodigy, the likes of which Kakashi was, and he was currently working on being promoted to chunin. And just like most prodigies Genma had met in his life, he took himself much too seriously.

No eight year old should sound like a forty eight year old.

"My father and mother have left the clan compound for two weeks because of an urgent meeting with the Fire Daimyo. My little brother was left to me to care for and look after." The boy cut right to the chase, much like Genma would expect from someone that took himself too seriously. "But I have been called away on a mission for the Hokage of utmost importance. Normally, I would leave Sasuke in the care of our clan members. But he had quite an unusual petition."

With this the younger male hanging onto Itachi's hand smiled broadly, "They said that they were always at your apartment! I want to hang out with them!"

There was no doubt in Genma's mind as to who these 'they' were. And he would need to talk to them about his right to privacy. And the fact that he would kind of appreciate it if they didn't broadcast where he lived to just about everyone.

Itachi smiled softly at his brother, then looked up at Genma with an apologetic look to his face. "Would you mind caring for Sasuke for the next four days? My mission, while urgent, is rather short. And the children told me that they stayed over all the time at your apartment."

Genma didn't like the fact that Itachi called the children just that, seemingly separating himself from the fact that he was still a kid himself.

Sasuke looked so adorable with those dark eyes so wide. And Itachi, even for how old he wished to seem, looked bashful and hopeful as well.

Genma knew that Sasuke got along pretty well with the kids. And what was four days? He had Kiba at his apartment just about every night now. And Neji and Hinata had only stopped because Neji had begun training and Hinata was on her way to being taught.

"But I'll warn you, Itachi," The man said, taking one more sip of his coffee before continuing. "The Sasuke you get back will undoubtedly ask to be brought over here more often. And he'll most probably wish to start wearing bandannas on his head. It's a side effect."

The boy looked Genma with a hint of disbelief. But he soon nodded and offered the bag he had packed full of his brother's things. "I trust you, Shiranui-San. There must be truth behind the whispered words around the village."

"Wait, what words?"

But Itachi had dashed off without answering, leaving Genma with a broadly smiling Sasuke at his doorstep.

~/~

There had been no hope for Sasuke. He had been a polite and kind boy with a curious and intrigued streak. But after his hellions had finished up with him, he was almost unrecognizable.

He had refused to let the kids stay the night like Sasuke. They had been jealous about him getting the special treatment, But Genma had told them that he was doing it because his family was out, busy being actual ninja, and that had, for some reason, intrigued them all. And Sasuke had seen no problem with telling his new friends about his awesome brother, and he proved to be a pretty intriguing story teller. Even Genma had been enthralled by some of his stories.

In the four days Sasuke stayed with him, the boy slept in his room while Genma took the couch by the living room. And this made Genma assure himself that he needed to buy a bed for the guest room that was currently under lock to make sure the children didn't mess with the walls and furniture like they had with the rest of the house.

His neck and back hurt like a bitch after the four days of sleeping on the couch, but he'd be damned if he gave Fugaku any understandable reasons to be angry with him. The man would not like the idea of his son staying four whole days and four whole nights with him. So Genma would do his best to make sure that there were no true, logical reasons for the man to be angry. Just the one the one thing he would undoubtedly hate that deal with his son staying with a regular shinobi for quite some time rather than his own clan members.

Sasuke slept over four nights. Genma had known that there was a possibility that Itachi's mission might take more time than expected. It was a given with most missions that went out of the village.

But when the older Uchiha arrived on the fifth day, looking as pristine and well kept as he had on the day that he left Sasuke, Genma couldn't help but feel somewhat sad.

In times of peace like these, there was no reason to continue graduating kids at such a young age. They deserved to be children. Even if they were training to be the shinobi of the future, they had a right to live out their childhood years for as long as possible. Itachi deserved to live for just a tad bit longer like a kid. Not like the weapon he was being forced to become.

"Did Sasuke behave?"

The boy spoke much too formally. It made Genma's heart clench slightly. He had known many people, male and female, that had grown up much too quickly. He had been one of them. And it sucked.

When Genma opened his mouth to answer, he heard the sound of bare feet padding rapidly against his wooden floor. And when he turned around to look at the person that was nearing, he found Sasuke smiling broadly with one of his hitai-ite wrapped around his head, running up with a broad smile on his face.

"Itachi! Itachi!" The young boy crowed proudly, jumping into his big brother's arms. "You're back!"

The smile on Itachi's face when he hugged his brother back was one that was filled with complete love. There were no doubts in Genma's mind as to how much love there was between the siblings. Sasuke didn't seem to be able to shut up about Itachi. And there was a fondness to always find in the elder's eyes whenever he looked at his younger brother.

"How are you Sasuke?" Itachi questioned with a pat to Sasuke's clothed head. "Did you have fun?"

"I sure did! Genma's so cool! Did you know that he can throw a senbon with his _mouth_!" The young Uchiha gasped out, pointing back at the man with a wild look in his eyes. "Can I please keep coming over?"

Even for how composed Itachi usually was, Genma was able to see the flinch. It was a hurtful subject he was sure. Especially with a clan as strict as the one they belonged to.

Sasuke seemed about to insist. And Genma knew this was a difficult subject for the elder. So he stepped forward, rubbed the kid's head, and said, "Would you like some breakfast? It's early and you still need your sustenance."

The boy, no matter how polite, had proven to be a trouble during breakfast time. He liked to be active, even at the top of the morning. And having to stop to eat wasn't something he enjoyed to do because of all the things he wanted to get started on immediately.

"Can Itachi stay too?"

"Sasuke, you don't have to-"

"Nonsense!" Genma smiled down at the elder of the two, motioning for him to come inside. "I'm used to making food for the equivalent of a small army! Feeding you two will be a walk in the park!"

With this, Sasuke pulled his brother into Genma's apartment. Itachi was clearly left stunned by the sudden invitation, but Genma left no room for the boy to deny him. He closed the door quickly and ushered both boys into the kitchen, where he began to prepare their breakfast.

And as he cooked, he could see Itachi glance down at his awesome duck slippers but kept his mouth shut.

It was at that moment that Genma decided that Itachi would feel like a kid whenever he crossed the threshold into his apartment. He could be a mature shinobi while out in the village and in his own home. But when he was in Genma's apartment, he'd be the kid he deserved to be.

* * *

It wasn't fair to see how much the boy looked like his deceased father.

But, really, Genma shouldn't be surprised. It seemed as if the parents of this generation had all been given some kind of special water or something while they had been kids. Seriously, all of them had miniature clones running around. Shino was the spitting image of Shibi, just like Shikamaru and Chouji were to their own fathers, Kiba was the male equivalent of his mother, and Ino was a female replica of her father.

Hinata, Neji, and Tenten were the only ones that didn't really follow with that theory, but he could make an exception considering how the rest were so identical.

Still... Seeing the boy that was the literal spitting image of one of his greatest failures... It brought back memories Genma didn't want to face. Everything about the boy was identical to his father. The golden hue of his hair, the hopeful and innocent shine to his eyes, even the way they _smiled_ was identical.

At one point in his life, his father had smiled at Genma like that. Back when he, Raidou, and Iwashi had still been part of the Hokage's bodyguard squad and had yet to commit their greatest failure, the man had been one of the kindest people he had ever met. Tough, yet understanding and fair. Judicious and logical.

"Kids, we're leaving."

All of the children groaned and shouted out as soon as they heard him, but Genma didn't care about keeping them happy.

Those blue eyes... He had failed them.

He had failed his Fourth Hokage too many times. And he couldn't stand looking at the young blonde without wanting to drown his sorrows in alcohol like he had been forced to stop by kids that had no idea he even _drank_.

"But Genma!"

"No buts." The man hissed, grabbing Hinata beneath the arms to place her on his hip before grasping Kiba's hand to pull him away. "We're leaving."

The ten kids that he was caring for were undoubtedly put off by the fact that he was acting so differently. He'd never spoken to them with so much finality. They'd never gotten him angry enough to speak like this. And he was sure he'd never looked so totally seriously. Not even when Raidou and Kakashi were bothering him had his face been pulled in so tightly.

"But... We were playing..."

"Don't worry, Naruto! We'll come back later! Promise!" Tenten called back to the blonde boy that sounded devastated, but Genma only felt his heart harden at the sadness in his voice.

A thousand different bad things had come to him when that boy had been born. He may be the son of the man he had once idolized and respected, but... He couldn't bring himself to look at the boy. Much less allow him into his apartment and into his life. Not like he had done with the other children.

He was the spitting image of Minato. And it hurt too much to look at him.

* * *

The kids didn't like how he had not allowed the young blonde in the park to become part of their group. They were all angered and felt peeved at him having made them leave the park so suddenly. But Genma stood behind his decision of getting away from the kid before the memories of his father could begin to haunt him like they had before.

He couldn't have allowed himself to go through that in front of the children. He couldn't allow them to see vulnerability.

They saw him as this strong protector that could take down anyone that came towards him. They had even told Kakashi many times that if he didn't stop reading those stupid books and started paying attention to them, they would find him to kick his butt.

Kids were overly trusting, after all. And they all believed he was much stronger than he truly was.

"Shiranui-San?"

Genma was forced out of his reverie right when he chopped another piece of lettuce with more force than was necessary. He turned to look at the boy perched by his kitchen's counter, one eyebrow quirked even though a frown pulled tightly at his lips.

"What's wrong, Itachi?"

The boy was extremely perceptive. A thousand times more than any of the children he normally took care of. Which, really, didn't surprise Genma at all. He was an Uchiha prodigy and on his way to making chunin. He had to be perceptive to make it so far in such a short amount of time.

"Are you alright?"

With a glare at the eggs he was to boil, the man nodded slightly and moved to grab them and throw into a pot of boiling water.

"Of course I am, Itachi. Why would you ask?"

His words were tight, which was exactly how the rest of his body felt.

He was trying his best to keep Minato's face out of his mind. He couldn't allow the reminders of his greatest failures to pounce on him while he was still caring for eleven kids. Those thoughts tended to make him reckless and much too vulnerable. In the past, he had forced them away with gruelling missions. But now all he could do was try to cook the stress away.

"You are not wearing your favorite slippers."

As soon as he heard the observation, the senbon enthusiast body's froze. He was in the middle of turning the heat down just slightly on the pot and his hand stopped midway.

Leave it to Itachi to notice even the smallest of things.

"It's nothing, kid." The man forced his body to move, although it felt mechanical and unnatural. "Now, would you like salmon teriyaki or beef teriyaki?"

There was a beat of silence in which Itachi didn't answer and Genma could just _hear_ the gears turning in his head. He wasn't acting calm or collected. He was frazzled and was allowing it to show.

For once, with his back turned on Itachi's probing eyes, _he_ felt like the one caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"I prefer salmon, Shiranui-San. Although my brother-"

"Likes beef more. I know." Genma sighed, then moved to the refrigerator to grab both kinds of protein. "I'll make both kinds. I'm sure the rest of the kids will appreciate having two options."

* * *

"So... Any reason as to why there are two Uchihas sleeping on your bed, Genma?"

Genma awoke with the ever annoying Kakashi Hatake poking at his ribs. He glared at the younger man as soon as he was forced to look at him, only to receive a curious look back from him.

"I didn't think Fugaku would ever let his prized children run around with those so beneath them."

For once, couldn't he just have a day in which he was able to sleep in?

With a groan and a long stretch of his groaning body, Genma sat up and scratched at the back of his neck. Then he grasped for the senbon that had become second nature to have in his mouth, found nothing on the stand beside him, then remembered the safety precautions he had been forced to take because of the kids' ingenuity.

"Their mother convinced him..." The man yawned, smoothing down some of his hair before glaring lazily at Kakashi. "What are you doing in my home so early in the morning?"

There was a smile playing behind the mask that covered the lower half of his face, but Genma wasn't feeling up to dealing with Kakashi at the moment.

His night had been filled with nightmares of Minato's angered face yelling at him, accusing him of his greatest failures. His death. Kushina's death. The village's destruction. Naruto's exclusion.

He was lucky if he had somehow even managed to sleep an hour.

"Dude, you look like shit."

The smile wasn't on Kakashi's face anymore. Instead the amused look had been replaced by one of worry.

But Genma just waved him off and nodded softly.

"Of course I look like shit. That's what I feel like."

Kakashi seemed as if he wished to say something else. But was cut off by Genma's apartment door slamming open and a blur of an Inuzuka rushing in, immediately throwing himself at Genma with a proud shout.

"Genma! Can we go to the zoo today!? Naruto said he'd like to go!"

Genma's blood immediately ran cold.

"Did you just say Naruto?"

The boy's grip on his neck loosened when he heard Genma sound so distant, then nodded softly. "Yeah. I found him while I was walking here. So I invited him over... You never minded before, Genma..."

The man's whole body numbed when those bright blue eyes appeared in his doorway. And from the way Kiba and Kakashi both turned to look at what he was staring at, the man guessed he wasn't being too subtle in his shock.

The kid was at the threshold, eyes glancing from one spot to another in obvious trepidation and distrust. He was fearful of this new place. And in a sick way, Genma hoped the boy would feel so uncomfortable he would just leave.

"Hm... Is that Naruto, Kiba?"

The boy turned to look up at Kakashi and nodded softly, although then he looked back at Genma with worry in his dark brown eyes.

"Farmer man? Are you okay?"

Those blue eyes had been so angry in his dreams. He had failed Minato so many times... How could he bring himself to even _speak_ to his spitting image when he knew he would just let him down as well?

Kakashi stood up with a small huff, placing a hand on Kiba's shoulder which urged the boy to look up at him.

"Farmer man isn't feeling all too well, Kiba. We should leave him alone for a little while until he feels better."

With these words, Kakashi picked the Inuzuka up and began to walk towards Naruto. But Genma could see how Kiba's eyes never left him, wide and somewhat scared.

He was scaring Kiba. Simply because he was too much of a coward to face his reality.

He was despicable.

"Naruto, are you hungry? I could make you both some breakfast if you'd like."

How Kakashi was able to keep so calm around _him_ made no sense to Genma. How could he be so collected around the boy that had essentially killed his teacher? How could he be so civil? The little monster had destroyed the village! Had killed his parents! Had... Had... Had done nothing to do with all of that.

He was just a baby when all of that happened. He hadn't released the beast. He was too young to even speak when the attack that had killed Minato had happened.

But even though Genma knew this, his heart told him that he had a _right_ to hate the boy.

"Are you sure you can cook, Scarecrow? Last I heard, you burned just about everything you touched."

"I do _not_!"

~/~

He did.

Kakashi burned a simple miso soup recipe. And he'd managed to make so much smoke rise up in his apartment that Itachi had run out of his bedroom, eyes alert and prepared to fight off any incoming invaders.

"Dammit, Kakashi!" Genma smacked the man upside the head with a growl of anger, which only made the silver haired idiot whine and rub at the spot he had hit. "Are you trying to burn my apartment down?"

"I was just trying to make breakfast for the kids!" The man tried to defend himself, all the while Kiba and Naruto both snickered from their spot out of his apartment's window and on the fire escape.

With a glare at the man, Genma ran cold water over the pot the man had somehow managed to _utterly burn_ , then growled in exasperation and threw it away.

That had been his sister's favorite pot before she had moved away from Konoha...

This day was just getting better by the second.

He felt like stabbing Kakashi. Maybe even poisoning him. But the rational voice in Genma's head told him that he couldn't hurt the man after he'd tried to cheer him up, even though he had failed so miserably.

"Just sit down and read your damn pervert books." The angered man hissed as he pulled out a smaller pot to make the miso soup.

Some of the ingredients had not been burnt to a crisp and could still be used. So Genma would just make enough soup for the four kids in his home.

He couldn't feed three and leave the blonde out. It wasn't right. And no matter how little he liked the boy, there was no way he could bring himself to be intentionally cruel to such a point to deny him food. He had always been taught that food was never denied, after all.

As he began to work on a meal he hadn't even wanted to make in the beginning, the man noticed that Kakashi pulled Kiba and Naruto over with him when he sat down on the couch. Both boys were gladly rough housing with him, trying to pull the mask off of his face. And while Kiba's laughter brought a bit of warmth to Genma's heart, Naruto's iced it out.

It was so much like Minato's own... So honest and innocent... It _hurt_. It was a more high pitched version of Minato's own, of course. But there were too many similarities for him to deny.

"Shiranui-San, would you like me to help you with anything?" Itachi was suddenly beside him, looking over the ingredients laid out on the counter before him.

Normally, Genma would have told Itachi that, while he appreciated the help, he didn't really need it. But right now he wanted _something_ to distract him from the blonde clone laughing and having fun in his living room. So he nodded at the Uchiha and told him, "Cut these onions into more manageable bits, please. Even though he's great on the battlefield, Kakashi is apparently a horror in the kitchen."

Kakashi's voice drifted in from the living room because of this, "You wound me, Farmer man!"

A burst of amusement went through Genma at those words. But then he remembered just why it was that he had been feeling like pure shit since he had woken up and decided to not retort. Instead he went and grabbed eggs from his refrigerator and began to prepare the breakfast soup with Itachi's help.

* * *

"Naruto's so cool!"

"He's so funny!"

"I want him to be on my team!"

"No! He should be on _my_ team! He's blonde like me!"

The kids were arguing over who should have Naruto on their team. Like a new toy, he was the center of attention.

Genma was terrified of what would happen if the kids' pushed too far and unleashed a power they were unaware of.

What if the seal wasn't strong enough? What if his _body_ wasn't powerful enough to keep the Nine Tails at bay? What if some horrible accident happened because of childish roughhousing and the Nine Tails was released on the village once more?

He didn't think he'd be able to survive another attack like that.

"Wait, what are we playing again?" Sakura questioned curiously amongst all the shouts of her friends, clearly confused by everyone wanting to have Naruto on their team.

"Steal Scarecrow's mask, of course!"

Even the blonde's voice had the same intonation as his father's...

Just why did fate hate him so much?

"Wha? My mask?"

Kakashi had been content to read his book beside Genma. But now that he had heard what game the kids were planning to play, his attention was taken from it.

"Why would you want to do that?" He questioned, sitting up to look at the tykes in front of him.

"Because we want to see what you're hiding beneath it." Tenten answered with a roll of her eyes.

"Duh." Ino added, then smiled broadly. "Tenten, Sakura! You're my team! Let's go!"

The girl jumped as soon as she shouted this, Tenten following closely behind her. Sakura, though, was left behind with her eyes wide, clearly surprised by the sudden orders.

"Hey! No fair!" Kiba growled, then shouted, "Sasuke! Naruto! Come on!"

Both boys took off after Kiba without needing to be told any further. Which left Shino, Neji, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Chouji behind, staring at their wilder friends as they moved to try and grab Kakashi's mask.

The man was fast enough to get away from their grubby hands before they got too close. But the kids were anything but the kind to give up, so they immediately started chasing after him.

"Genma! Call them off! Call them off!"

But Genma really didn't feel like stopping the only thing that actually made him smile on this horrible day. So he just leaned back and crossed his arms behind the back of his head to look at the show.

The other five kids sat down to watch as well, clearly intrigued by seeing their friends try and stop the man.

"I... Don't understand..."

Genma cocked his head to the side slightly to look at Itachi, humming as a sign to make the boy elaborate.

"Why does he not just jump onto a tree? Or stop them with a trap? He could surely stop them without any difficulty."

It was at this moment that Genma whole heartedly decided to make Itachi feel all of the amazing things that came from being a kid. If he didn't understand what an exhilarating game like this could cause for both a skilled shinobi and a couple of terrible tykes, then he clearly needed to be taught.

"It's all in the fun of the chase, kid." Genma smirked lopsidedly, not feeling up for a complete smile, "Maybe if you were to help them, you'd be able to see what was so fun about it."

Immediately the kid shook his head. "It wouldn't be right. I am a genin of the Hidden Leaf Village, it is not right to take part in such ridiculous-"

"I'm going to stop you right there, Itachi." Genma pushed himself up and grabbed the kid's hand, pulling him up with him. "Kiddies!" The five that had been left watching looked up at him, clearly curious as to why he was calling on them. "Let's play Catch the Scarecrow!"

~/~

There was something about Kakashi that was enigmatic to Genma. He could be cold, yet somehow warm. Detached, yet overly _attached_. Relaxed, yet much too hyper to deal with.

For all the coolness he tried to emulate, Kakashi was actually one of the most childish people he knew.

And it was because of this childishness that he most probably allowed the game of Catch the Scarecrow to run for as long as it had.

By the time all of the kids were tired (including Itachi), both men were starving and ready for a stop in all of the running. None of them had been able to grab the man's mask, which really didn't surprise Genma at all, and were all ready to just collapse and get some good food.

"I'm starving!" Kiba shouted as he hung onto Kakashi's left leg.

"Me too!" Ino agreed, hitching a ride on Genma's own left leg.

"Give us food, Farmer man!" Tenten crowed, holding onto his right.

Hinata yawned and smacked her lips together while she nuzzled her head against Genma's neck, hanging onto the right side of his body, all the while he carried Sakura on his left.

Sasuke was being carried by his brother in a piggyback style, much too tired to give his own opinion on his hunger. And Naruto was hanging onto Kakashi's right leg, while the man carried Shikamaru and Chouji with little strain.

Shino and Neji had been the only kids aside from Itachi to refuse getting carried. Even though from the way they were walking somewhat sluggishly, anyone could tell they were extremely tired.

"We could go get ramen!" Naruto suddenly gasped out, immediately getting a chorus of agreements from all of the kids.

Genma felt uneasy over going along with the blonde's plans. But from the way Kakashi nodded and Itachi's face softened just slightly, he could tell there was no way he was going to change anybody's mind. Besides, he didn't want to cook after having spent a whole afternoon chasing after a troublesome scarecrow.

~/~

"And that's the last of the kids!" Genma huffed as he threw himself onto his couch besides Kakashi, earning a noise of annoyance from the younger but nothing else.

The kids had eaten their ramen with renewed vigor. But after they had finished eating, they had adopted their previous positions before, forcing the three male shinobi to carry them all the way back to Genma's apartment.

He had never hated being on the fifth floor more than that idea. Especially because the elevator had decided to break down.

Itachi was off alerting the different parents as to their children currently sleeping and asking if they wished to pick them up tonight or just wait until morning. Genma already knew that the great majority of the parents would leave the kids and let them sleep. But Sakura, Shino, and Sasuke were all still new to their group and so their parents didn't have the same amount of trust in him.

They had taken up his whole bed. Sakura, Tenten, and Ino had been placed one beside the other at the head of his bed, hugging his pillows tightly. Then, because Kiba had himself said he didn't mind it, Genma had placed the Inuzuka in the dog bed Tsume had left some time ago for Kuromaru. He was sharing with Naruto.

He had been lucky. Kakashi had taken over settling Naruto down beside Kiba. He hadn't been forced to touch the blonde.

Neji and Hinata were hugging one another at the foot of his bed, while Shikamaru was splayed out right beside them. Chouji had rolled onto the floor from his spot beside Shikamaru, and neither he nor Kakashi had bothered with returning him to the bed. And, finally, Sasuke had been placed on one of the sleeping bags that had been left here by one of the kids (Genma couldn't really remember who), while Shino was placed on another one beside him.

"You are a horrible friend." Kakashi hissed after a moment, his head leaned against the back of Genma's couch with the rest of his body relaxed. His eyes were closed.

Genma knew that he was one of the few people that had been fortunate enough to win the Copy Nin's favor. If he hadn't, the man wouldn't have done any of this with him. He wouldn't even bother to make his life a living hell with Raidou.

Raidou... It had been a while since he had last heard from his best friend. And he felt like a crappy friend for not thinking of him sooner. But running after all of the kids and keeping them in line and making sure that none of them died... Well, it was a full time job.

He would much rather ponder on Raidou than think about Naruto.

"Genma..."

The man's tone spoke of severity. And Genma wasn't sure if he wanted to have this talk.

"About Naruto-"

"Have you heard about Raidou?"

Kakashi's eye glared at him. But Genma could be just as head strong as him. And he would much rather avoid the conversation Kakashi clearly wanted to have.

"He's off on a mission. He's gone to Iwa to check up on some rumors coming from there... Nasty ones." Kakashi admitted softly, then shook his head. "There's something off about the whole thing."

For Kakashi to admit that made Genma feel uneasy. But then the man was speaking once more and trying to have the conversation he desperately wanted to avoid.

"The kid's like Naruto. You can't just push him away. And you can't let your-"

"Shiranui-San, father said he would allow Sasuke and I to stay!"

Itachi had flown into his apartment without any hesitation. And upon seeing the light in the kid's eyes, Genma knew that it wouldn't be too difficult to make him see the lighter side of life, if even for a little bit.

"He actually did?" Genma questioned, then smiled at him. "That's amazing, Itachi!"

But the boy's smile soon faded and he soon looked guilty. "Have I... Did I interrupt something?"

Genma knew that Kakashi wanted to speak to him. But he didn't want to hear this. So he stood up with a soft smile and shook his head.

"Nothing important... Say, you want to learn how to make pies? We could make one for tomorrow's breakfast."

Itachi faltered, eyes going from Kakashi over to Genma before looking down at the floor. "If you wish to speak-"

"Don't worry about it, kid." Genma reiterated with a bit more force, moving to wrap an arm around the Uchiha's shoulder to pull him towards the kitchen. "Scarecrow, you want to help?"

"I thought I was a terror in the kitchen?"

But the man still stood up and moved to help. And as the three all worked to make two different pies for tomorrow's breakfast, he could see the flashes of Kakashi's eye. It clearly said that he had been saved by Itachi. But he would corner him at some point and force him to talk about everything they would need to speak about.

Quite frankly, though, Genma had contingency plans he was sure he'd be able to use to avoid all sorts of conversation with the man. The kids, after all, were extremely good distractions.

..~..~..

So I hope you all liked this! This story will be filled with humor, angst, feels, fluff, adventure, and everything in between! So be ready for all kinds of feels, from adorable to angsty, through the course of this story!

Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5: How Genma Figured Out He Wasn't Even Remotely a Fraction Over the Fourth's Death:_ The kids were up to something... Well, they were _always_ up to something. But this time they were up to something more organized and smart than just breaking into Genma's closet to be able to use his weapons. It was more organized and dealt with money. Then there was Kakashi, who was acting odder than usual. And, as if that weren't enough, Genma ended up having to save the Kyuubi container from an angry mob... And having to face a harsh reality.

..~..~..

Naruto was over just about every single day. Just like most of the kids. The only ones that didn't come with as much frequency were the Hyuga cousins and the Uchiha siblings. Hiashi was sure that he wanted to begin teaching his nephew and his daughter while they were still young, which meant that they spent a lot of time now in their compound.

Genma liked to believe that they both enjoyed it. That Neji liked being four and beginning to train to be a ninja. That Hinata was eager to begin learning her lessons to finally learn how to be a proper clan head.

But... Weren't they too young?

Genma was no parent to be talking. He didn't have any real experience with his own, _biological_ children. But he felt that the things Hiashi wanted to teach Neji already were so... Well... It felt like it was just a bit too soon for the doe eyed Hyuga with a heart large enough to want to play with all his friends as much as he could whenever he was able to.

He just hoped Neji didn't wind up graduation the Academy before he was ten. That was all he could truly hope for when it came to someone as talented as him. The last thing he wanted for kids as kind and innocent as these was for them to wind up like him. They weren't prepared for the life he had lived. They weren't made for it.

But... Then again... He hadn't been made for it either, had he? He'd just forced himself to grow and adapt.

"Hey! Farmer man!"

Looking down at the young girl tugging on his pant leg, Genma couldn't help the soft smile that came onto his face. Tenten looked outright adorable with the bandanna on her head. Especially because her buns were done lower on her cranium to leave her a comfortable place to use it.

"Yes, Tenten?" He questioned softly as he knelt beside her to be able to look her directly in the eyes.

She was growing up before his eyes. It was only by a few inches, but the clothes she had worn when he had met her were already revealing skin, allowing him to see her wrists and just a tiny bit of her ankles.

"Let's go shopping, Farmer man!" She smiled broadly, grabbing his cheeks between both of her small hands. "I need clothes, Ino wants chocolate, you need new kunai and senbon,"

"How do you know that?"

"Don't interrupt me, it's rude." The girl glared and smacked his cheek softly, then continued as if she had never been stopped. "Chouji would like to get a new stash of chips, and we all need more finger paint."

There was a reason why Genma needed new projectiles. In a moment of completely irresponsible stupidity, Kakashi had given them to the kids. He didn't know why, nor did he care. He just knew that the man wasn't around the kids unsupervised anymore. And the kids shouted about having been able to actually touch Scarecrow's eyepatch before they had been stopped by Genma. But, really, Genma couldn't be bothered to listen to the things they came up with.

Aside from that, Genma's supply of senbon had depleted exponentially. Missions used a lot of his supply and then Kakashi had decided to waste the rest that he had left. He literally only had twelve left, the ones in the pouch attached to his leg at all times.

But he hadn't bought new ones because he was tight on money. And everything that the kids needed would cost money... He _could_ go to their parents and tell them to give him the money he would need to buy the kids the things they seemed too busy to get. But he'd never asked them for that before. Not when this whole thing started. And certainly not know after he'd bought them so many different things with his own money.

With a soft frown, Genma began to think of ways he could tell the children that they wouldn't be able to go shopping just yet. He would need to get himself at least a B-Ranked mission to be able to get all the things that were needed. It would be tight to buy everything, but still possible. An A-Rank would give even more money, but Genma highly doubted he'd get one, considering how the Hokage had seemed to have decided to keep him in the village, even though he hadn't told him a single thing.

"Listen, Tenten." The man breathed out, heart heavy as he looked at the young girl's bright eyes.

"Gen-Gen!"

Ino's head popped up from the doorframe, smiling into the kitchen.

"Kiba, Chouji, Shika, Neji, and I all just got our allowances! Let's go shopping!"

Right when she finished saying this, another head popped up beneath hers, this time belonging to a broadly smiling Neji. "And we shall pay for the kunai we lost. We made a pool between all of us and we can do so."

Tenten released Genma's face and jumped towards her friends, hugging Ino tightly before pulling her away so they could prepare to leave. But Genma just stared at both boys, feeling somewhat disbelieving at the words. If they had come from Kiba, there would be no doubt in his mind that the math had been wrong. But seeing how Neji had been the one to say this...

"You kids don't have to do that." The man murmured as he stood up from the floor, patting his hands against his pajama pants as he walked towards them.

But Neji just smiled up at him and grabbed him by the hand, pulling him towards his room. "We _want_ to."

Inside of his room were the rest of the kids, excluding Sasuke and Itachi, seeing how they had not come today for breakfast. And Genma guessed that they wouldn't be arriving at all today. When they didn't show up for breakfast, they just didn't show up. If they did, though, it was very likely that they even spent the night.

Shino and Shikamaru sat on his bed, a board of checkers in front of them. Naruto was kneeling to the side, watching the game intently. Hinata was there as well, pale eyes wide as she watched the action (or lack, thereof) with rapt attention. Sakura and Chouji were by his window, watering the growing ferns that Inoichi had insisted on gifting him for his birthday, even though he had enough plants in his home already.

"Okay, guys, everyone out!" Kiba called out, all the while Ino clapped her hands together to call attention to herself. "Farmer man needs to get dressed so we can go out!"

Genma honestly expected the kids to put up a fight and refuse to leave his room. But they instead left in a single file line, not uttering a single whine about having to leave their activities.

If Genma hadn't been suspicious before, he certainly was after this.

* * *

The whole village knew that Genma took care of ten demonic midgets. Or was it eleven? Did Itachi count? Did _Kakashi_ count? Genma felt like Kakashi should count. Especially because, recently, he had been around more often than before.

Genma had a theory that it was because he had been placed on forced vacation from his ANBU duties. But Kakashi never said anything about that part of his life to Genma, much less to the kids, so the older male had never been able to confirm his suspicions. And it wasn't like he was about to ask something like that. It would undoubtedly wind up with the younger leaving for some time just to avoid his questions.

Still, the fact remained that his apartment was getting too cramped for so many people always being around. His dinner table had long since been left for only Shino, Sakura, the Hyuga's, and the Uchiha's, the rest of the children taking their plates to whatever spot of the apartment they wished as long as they didn't leave too much of a mess behind.

They _always_ left a mess behind. A mess that Genma always ended up having too clean if he didn't want to get scolded again by Hiashi for uncleanliness in his home.

His fuzzy duck slippers quacked with each tired step he took towards his kitchen. On the _one day none of the kids_ _would wake him up_ , he had woken up early.

With a tired yawn, the man opened his refrigerator and blinked at what was inside. There were no eggs, barely any milk, and just one bowl of leftover salmon teriyaki. There was food in there, but it all had to be cooked to some degree. And he didn't really feel like cooking anything.

Well... He was sure he had some old ground coffee around here somewhere... He could make himself some coffee and then head out to see if Raidou had come back from his mission so he could nab some food from him.

As he moved his body so he stood before the kitchen drawers to grab at the bag of coffee grind, Genma was struck by a sudden thought.

It had been _months_ since he had been able to enjoy a morning like this. There weren't any kids hassling him for breakfast. There weren't any children sleeping in his bedroom, he had been able to sleep in his own bed and not the sofa. And there weren't supposed to be any unwanted visitors for at least a few hours, seeing how all of the parents had decided to make their children stay with them on this Saturday morning to do all kinds of different things with their own kid.

How long had he gone without drinking coffee in the morning because Kiba's nose was much too sensitive to stand such a strong smell? How long had he ended up forsaking his coffee to instead chase after hyperactive kids with bubbly laughs?

"Shit, man, you look like you've seen a ghost."

He should have known something would come around to dash away his good mood. But, Genma had to admit with a slight shrug, there was something that didn't feel _right_ about not having to rush to make a breakfast for hungry tykes before preparing them for a day of playing and having fun.

"No. Just your ugly mug." Genma replied easily as he grabbed the bag, moving so he could begin to make his coffee. There was enough milk to make him some. Even though there wasn't any sugar, which meant he would have to drink it mostly bitter.

"Ooh! You dream of me, Gen-Gen?" Kakashi was suddenly draped over his shoulder, poking at his cheek with much too energy for this hour of the morning. "I feel so loved!"

With a roll of his eyes, the senbon enthusiast set the coffee maker. Then he turned to the silver haired man, crossing his arms over his chest. "Any reason as to why you're here so early in the morning, Scarecrow?"

The man turned around with a wave of his hand, giving Genma's apartment a once over before looking back at him. "Where are the demon children? I have a new game to show them." Genma quirked an eyebrow at this, which made Kakashi merely shrug softly. "They asked, I delivered. That's what one does if they want a healthy relationship, Genma. _Communicate_."

His tone was filled with unspoken insinuations. And Genma caught onto it rather quickly. But he wasn't about to let him lead the conversation, so instead, he merely shrugged and grabbed the milk from the fridge to begin to heat it up.

"They're with their families, Kakashi. I've been allowed a quiet morning after months of continuous service."

The last bits of his milk were served in a mug that had been brought to him by... _Ino_ , he believed, after his father had returned from a mission. It read _#1 Big Brother_ and he still wasn't sure how he should react to it.

Him? A big brother? Highly unlikely and somewhat illogical.

But he could never deny anything the kids gave to him, so he had just taken it with a small smile and soft thanks to the blonde girl. And from the way she had beamed at him, he had known he had made the right choice.

"Seriously?" Kakashi actually sounded surprised as he moved to lean against the refrigerator, crossing his arms over his chest as he closed his eye. "And here I thought you were on call, 24/7."

"Yeah... One would think..."

He really did spend a lot of time with those kids. It was so odd to not have them around this morning.

"Want to get some extra training in while the mongrels are still out?"

"Sure."

It would be nice to stretch his legs again for more than a simple courier mission.

He had a good feeling about today. Especially because he'd finally be able to chew on his senbon for at least a few hours.

* * *

He needed a drink.

"Come on, Gen-"

"Stay the fuck away from me if you don't want me to fucking poison you, Hatake!"

That shut him up.

Good.

He didn't need to hear any of this. He didn't need to be told that he should treat Naruto better. He didn't need to listen to some nutcase with aversions to doors tell him that he was wrong for not treating the blonde haired kid like a golden child.

 _"He's just a kid, Genma. He didn't-"_

 _"Destroy the village? He was born on the same day that beast killed our Hokage and his wife, Kakashi! And don't tell me that's some kind of fucking coincidence!"_

 _"We_ _were both there, Genma. We both saw the destruction unleashed. But you can't tell me you believe a kid like him did all that."_

 _"Believe what you want to believe... But you weren't part of the fighting. For all your big talk and macho act, you can't say shit. Because, when it comes down to it: You. Weren't. There... Not for what mattered."_

It had been a low blow. Genma had known it before he'd even said it. But Kakashi had just pissed him off so much... That kid had killed his own parents. Decimated their village! Took the Hokage's life!

And that blonde fool had made sure that he was too far from Genma for him to be able to do anything to save him.

That damned idiot had gone off like he always did, leaving him, Raidou, and Iwashi with the orders to help the forces inside of Konoha to evacuate the areas that were closest to the Nine Tails. And he had died far away from them... Far away from Genma.

In his anger to get as far away from Kakashi as possible, Genma hadn't been thinking about where he was going. He just knew he wanted to get away from the bastard as quickly as possible. He walked as quickly as he could, hoping to put as much space between him and the silver haired bastard before he did something he may just end up regretting later on.

He knew that at this time, the kids would most probably be looking for him. But... He _really_ didn't want to deal with them today. He _couldn't_. Not with all of the thoughts eating away at him.

On days like these, he would have usually just asked for an especially long mission to take his mind off things. And after that mission, he would unwind by drinking and passing out.

But he couldn't ask for a long mission. Not anymore. Not with the Hokage seemingly set on keeping him inside of the village at all times.

He couldn't deal with the kids today...

With a soft sigh, Genma looked up and noticed the direction in which his feet had taken him. He was back in the busy parts of Konoha, looking at the direction in which the clan compounds mostly were.

With a determined nod to himself, the man began to make his way towards the farthest compound, the Hyuga. He would have quite a few houses to visit before he could completely unwind for the day.

~/~

Hiashi hadn't really reacted to Genma telling him that he wouldn't be able to look after Neji and Hinata for the rest of the day or the following morning. The Hyuga had just nodded, thanked him for warning him, offered a cup of tea, then walked him out of the compound.

Genma had felt extremely out of place among so many regal looking people. Not only did their shinobi carry themselves with pride fitting that of a king, but so did their civilians. He had not seen one Hyuga walking around with their shoulders rounded rather squared.

Seriously, they took themselves too seriously.

After he had spoken with Hiashi, Genma had made his way towards the Inuzuka Compound. There he had been greeted by Tsume at the gates (which was kind of convenient, but Genma didn't really think much of it) and had excused himself. The woman had told him that she would just take today to teach Kiba about their clan's history and to take care of himself.

Then he'd gone to the Nara Compound. Luckily for him, there he had found Shikaku and his two best friends, which had made his task of excusing himself a bit easier.

There had been something in Shikaku's eyes that had made Genma feel uncomfortable. A gleam of knowledge. Something that made him think that the man knew more than he let on.

"The kids will be disappointed... But it was about time you asked for a day off, Shiranui. You can't be expected to run after so many kids every single day."

Genma had thanked the man and then made his way towards the Aburame household. Shino had answered the door for him and seemingly perked up.

"Shall we pick up the rest?"

He had sounded so eager and excited. Genma had felt bad about dashing his hopes away.

"No, Shino. I'm sorry. I was actually hoping to get a day off." Genma had knelt in front of him to look him in the eyes, offering a lopsided smile even as he clinked the senbon against his teeth. "You wouldn't mind, would ya?"

As he had spent more time with the Aburame, Genma had begun to be able to read some of his expressions. Even though he was always covered from head to toe, there were some tells to the young boy, no matter how minute they were. It was all in his shoulders, really. And now the kid's shoulders slumped just slightly, showing that he was disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Shino." He breathed out, patting both his shoulders before he straightened up. "But I need a day off. You understand that, right?"

"Yes, I do." Shino murmured softly, then asked, "But we shall play tomorrow... Right?"

Genma didn't have the heart to tell him no. And, really, he didn't think his love for routine would be able to deal with two whole days of no kids around him.

"Of course, kiddo. I'll see you tomorrow." He had smiled at the boy, saluted, then turned and walked away from the compound.

On his way home, he had stopped by Tenten's apartment to ask his mother to take care of her. Her father was off on another mission at the moment, but Takeo said that she wouldn't mind spending some girl time with her only daughter.

After that, the senbon enthusiast had just begun to wander. And as he passed in front of yet another building of shinobi apartments, he heard someone call out to him. Immediately he had recognized the voice. And without a second thought, he had smirked at the person that had called for him.

"Have a few minutes for an old friend?"

Just like he had expected, the person didn't disappoint him. They had gone off to the nearest bar without any problem. It didn't matter if it was only one in the afternoon.

~/~

"Help! Please! Someone help me!"

That voice... He _knew_ that voice.

Looking up from his drink, Genma turned his head towards the bar's exit to try and figure out just why he knew this voice.

"Hey, no. _Bad Genma_."

Iwashi's hand wound over Genma's shoulder to pull the man back towards the bar, even though the fourteen year old had no true right to even be drinking. But this bar was known to cater to all shinobi, no matter the age. Especially the ones that had somehow been lucky enough to survive both the Third Shinobi World War and the Nine Tails' attack.

"You're with friends now... Drink..."

The teen wasn't even old enough to have facial hair, yet he could hold liquor like a pro.

Just what had the world won by turning Iwashi Tatame into yet another kid that had been forced to grow up before his time? What could the higher ups have possibly won from getting this kid out onto the front lines so quickly? He had been eleven, working as part of something that would have made most shinobi jealous at the time. The Fourth Hokage's bodyguard. He'd even learned a modified version of the Flying Thunder Formation Technique. Who wouldn't have wanted that?

"You need more alcohol if you're thinking you're going to be leaving without being drunker." The teenager pushed a shot of whiskey into his hands, eyes somewhat glazed over as he beamed. "Drink up, Mother Hen."

The man looked over the teenager with a quirked eyebrow, but soon chuckled softly and accepted the drink. Iwashi may have been drunk, but he was one hell of a conversationalist. Even though he wasn't much of a talker while sober, he sure knew how to run his mouth when he had a couple of shots inside of him.

"So's, as I was saying," Iwashi's hand rose to signal for another round and the bartender looked down at him with slight trepidation.

This bar was one of the few that still allowed underage shinobi to drink alcohol. It was one of the few the Hokage allowed to continue doing so. And it was with strict rules of not going overboard and having some shinobi of legal age accompanying them to make sure nothing bad could happen to them.

Not many other bars allowed shinobi under the legal age to drink. Most of them had been founded after the Third Shinobi World War, which meant they had been founded by people that, even though they had survived the war, hadn't really seen the kind of damage it had caused the people that had fought for their village. And seeing how a lot of the kids that had fought during the war had died, there really wasn't such a great populace of young shinobi that fit the bill to garner interest in a huge amount of bars to allow them to drink.

Genma only really knew one kid that had fought in the war and was still underage. He had been one too until a couple of months ago, but because of the kids, he hadn't been forced to try and weasel his way into booze for too long.

Iwashi Tatami. Fourteen years old, child prodigy, chunin, and had been fucked over as bad as the rest of the people Genma knew that had fought during the war. From what he knew, Iwashi had been the only one of his graduating class to have survived the war and Nine Tails' attack. His best friend had been killed during the Kyuubi attack.

Genius level intellect with natural skills for the shinobi world. Being from a civilian family hadn't affected him at all. The boy had never stood a chance.

Genma nodded at the unasked question, deciding that Iwashi was good for one more drink before he was cut off. And the bartender inclined his head slightly to show that he understood, then began to serve another round for them both.

"It hurt like holy hell when you stabbed me with that senbon." The boy was slurring just slightly, but he managed to keep his voice understandable enough. "But then I ended up meeting this cute nurse and now have a date for Friday."

"You? A _date_?" Genma couldn't help the small chuckle, "Iwashi, forgive me if I don't believe you. But you barely even speak, much less to cute nurses."

The fourteen year old smiled broadly over at him, suddenly reminding Genma _too much_ of the kids he took care of on a daily basis.

Iwashi, no matter how many how many missions he'd been on or how many enemies he'd kill, still looked like a kid. Lanky body with awkward bones jutting out at all angles, mess of dark brown hair sticking out from beneath the bandanna that served as his hitai-ite, and big eyes that had way too many emotions always showing on them.

Would Genma have taken him in if he had started this whole babysitting business a few years ago? Would he have made the same promise to himself as he had done when it came to Itachi? Would it have even mattered?

"The morphine may have helped."

"I'm sorry! I didn't do anything! Not this time! I swear!"

There was that shouting again. Why did Genma feel like he knew that voice?

A frown pulled at the corner of Genma's mouth as he tried to remember where he had heard that voice before. And when the next round of drinks had been placed in front of him and Iwashi had jumped on the chance, he made a choice.

He had always been a curious person at heart.

"Hey, kid, I'll be back in a second."

Iwashi had nodded and waved him off, then turned to begin talking to the person sitting beside him at the bar, someone Genma had seen around before. Brown hair, hollowed eyes, and a perpetual cough. He had known this kid's name. He just couldn't remember it. He was Iwashi's age if he could remember correctly. But had graduated after him.

As he stepped out into the slightly warm afternoon, Genma's attention was caught by a mob that had seemed to form in front of a meat shop.

"I didn't do anything!"

He knew that voice... Genma racked his head for the information he wanted to know.

 _One of the kids_.

That voice belonged to one of the kids.

 _That voice belonged to one of his kids!_

Eyes going wide, the man's body began to move of its own accord.

If any of the his kids were being harassed by a mob of people, there'd be hell to pay!

" _Please!_ "

"You stole it, you brat! You good for nothing loser!"

"You're scum!"

"You are a horrible child!"

"You're a murdering monster!"

"They should lock you up and throw away the key!"

Some of the things the civilians were saying were despicable. And some made Genma want to abandon his 'Protect the village and all who inhabit it' oath to be able to bust some heads. But he moved through the large crowd, pushing people out of his way to get to the center of it.

"Move!" He barked as he moved past the people around him.

Some grumbled and glared. Others actually looked relieved. "Maybe they've finally sent someone to lock him up!" One old woman actually smiled at him in pure excitement.

He couldn't understand why anyone would say such horrible things to a kid. It was just a _kid_.

But when he finally got to the person they had been surrounding, Genma understood why he found so much hate.

Naruto looked up at him with wide blue eyes filled with tears and fear. There were scrapes on his body and the knee of his left leg had been torn and he was bleeding from a small cut.

Genma felt all of the breath leave his body in that moment. For all of the fear and worry that had been pounding inside of him had seemed to have left him. All he could do was stare at the crying child with his own eyes widened, mind going blank for a moment before barraging him with accusations to his own thoughts.

What kind of idiot was he? _Just a kid_! This was Naruto! Of course he deserved to be attacked by the villagers! He had killed their Hokage! Thrown their lives into a wild tailspin!

But... No. That was wrong, wasn't it? And he had been too arrogant and prideful to see it before. It had just taken alcohol to fog his brain for him to finally get through his pride and find the reason why he refused to see Naruto as yet another kid.

The Fourth Hokage had died. That was true. But the first thing the Third had told him was that he had sacrificed himself to save his village and his son. He was a master at seals. Who did he think he was to question the Fourth's decisions?

An angsty and bratty little shit that refused to believe his idol was gone. That's who.

"Take him away! Lock him up for treason! Execute him!"

The villagers were still shouting, even though Genma had stopped advancing. He was caught between his feelings and his reasoning.

Naruto stared up at him with a tear stained face, "Shiranui-San... Please don't let them hurt me... I didn't do anything..."

"He deserves to die!"

"Shut up!" He shouted, moving so he stood in front of the crowd to glare at the crowd. "He's _three_! You should all be ashamed of yourselves!"

"He killed-"

Genma's glare turned deadly then and the emboldened villager's courage fizzled. Then, without another word to the mob, he crouched down, picked Naruto up, and carried him away.

~/~

"So... Even _him_ , Genma?"

The senbon enthusiast sighed softly when he heard Iwashi behind him. But he didn't say anything. He just smiled softly at Naruto, "I'll be back in a few minutes with bandages and some lunch for you." and walked out of his room.

"He's just a kid, Iwashi."

The words were hollow even to himself.

He didn't know what to believe anymore. His mind was caught between two extreme opposites and he had no idea what to do.

"I didn't know you wanted to befriend a demon." The teenager hissed, following after Genma with anger radiating off of him. "Genma, he killed the Hokag-"

"He didn't." Genma glared at the younger male for a second before turning back to the fridge to grab the singular bowl of leftovers so he could heat the pieces of salmon up. "He was a baby. How in the world could he have killed the Hokage?"

Yes. How had he done it? This had been a question that Genma had ignored for the past three years now. And he had ignored it because he had known that it blew holes into his argument for hating Naruto.

The boy... He had hurt the village... At least, that's what Genma had forced himself to believe.

"The Nine Tails is sealed inside of him! He's that monster's personification! He's just as bad as that thing that killed all of our brethren! He killed Mito!"

Mito. That had been his best friend's name. Genma had seen Iwashi around the girl a couple of times. And the mutual crush between them had been just about unbearable to see. He had seen his best friend and crush die before his eyes.

With a soft sigh, Genma shook his head. He couldn't deal with this. Even though the haze of alcohol that had been over him as he had walked out of the bar to find the angry mob had already left him, he didn't feel like his mind was ready to process so much.

He had spent so long telling himself that Naruto was a monster... He had even blown up at Kakashi for it... And it had taken a group of people agreeing with him for him to begin doubting himself.

"He's a _container_." Genma repeated what he'd heard the Third say once before he had passed that one law, then threw the bowl of leftovers into his microwave to heat it up. "He's not some demon, Iwashi. He's just a mischievous little kid that-"

"That steals on a daily basis!"

Sighing softly, Genma began to rummage around his cabinets to find the first aid kit he knew he kept in there. Even though the kids were always running around and scraping themselves up, he'd never had to use this thing in his home.

He had heard that Naruto stole. But he also knew that he lived in an orphanage. And, thinking back on it, the kid ate a lot more than the rest of the kids whenever he ate here. He even asked Kiba to give him some of his scraps if the boy left any.

And when he'd seen Kakashi giving him a bath, the man swore he had seen ribs. But he hadn't thought much of it back then because he refused to think about it.

"Could it be that the orphanage doesn't give him enough food?" He theorized aloud, eyes going wide at the sudden realization. "And..." He gulped for a moment, hands going numb as they fell to his sides. "Could it be he steals to get the things they don't give him? Food they refuse to give? Clothes they refuse to make? Fuck... Could someone be that evil?"

"It's not evil if it happens to someone that's evil!"

Genma's blood ran cold.

When he turned to Iwashi, he saw that the boy's eyes were hard and his mouth was set in a deep frown. But with a shake of his head, Genma began to feel like the greatest piece of shit in the world.

"He's just a kid. Iwashi, he's just a three year old kid that had the bad luck to be born on the same day the Nine Tails attacked. He's just a kid and he's treated like shit because he had horrible luck..." The words tumbled from his mouth as guilt began to eat at him. "He's Minato's son... And we've failed him just like we failed Minato..."

Iwashi's eyes widened in disbelief and the microwave rang to signalize that the food had finished heating up.

Genma turned to it mechanically and grabbed the bowl. Then he grabbed some chopsticks and began to walk towards his room, leaving a stunned Iwashi in his kitchen without a further explanation.

When he opened the door to his room, he found Naruto sitting in the same frigid spot on his bed on which he'd left him. The blonde looked up with those bright blue eyes and an almost fearful look on his face. His body was tensed, prepared to run if danger arose.

It was like a slap to Genma's face.

"Here's..." It was hard to speak through the lump in his throat. "Here's some food, Naruto."

He didn't register when the boy took the food and began to eat. He was much too busy seeing a scornful Minato glaring down at him.

With tears pricking at his eyes, the man sat himself at the edge of his bed and rubbed his hands over his eyes.

Kakashi was right. The kid wasn't the demon. He was a container. Him and the Nine Tails weren't some kind of enmeshed being. They were different. The kid was much too kind and innocent to ever want to destroy the village. All he wanted was someone to play with him and to have fun.

And all Genma had done was glare at him and keep him at a distance.

"Shiranui-San... Are you... Are you crying?"

The boy whispered with trepidation clear in his voice. But that curious tone was so much like Minato's own that Genma felt his heart squeeze unbearably.

A sniffle left him as he pawed at his cheek, only to realize that he had, in fact, begun to cry.

"It... It seems I am, kid."

If Minato were here, there was no doubt in Genma's mind he'd kick the whole village's collective ass. The orphanage had failed him, the shinobi had failed him, and the civilians had failed him. They had refused to see his son for the person he was. They had chosen to see him for a monster he was not.

 _Genma had failed to see the person he was_.

Small and much too skinny arms wrapped around his shoulders and clasped in front of his neck. A warm body hugged him from behind. And a soft whisper tickled his ear.

"Thank you for saving me... _Genma_... But you don't have to cry for me."

This would be the first time Naruto had ever called him by his name and not just Shiranui-San.

Raising his hand to softly grasp both of the boy's, Genma lowered his head and allowed more tears to fall.

Things would change from now on. Minato was dead. He hadn't gotten over this. He still held an illogical grudge over Naruto because of a childish need to blame _someone concrete_ for what had happened.

It wouldn't be easy. Especially not with the boy being Minato's _carbon copy_. Every time he looked at the kid, he saw Minato and the awesome person he had been before he had died. He saw the man's smiling face as he promised him, Raidou, and Iwashi that everything would be fine, but he needed them to work on evacuation while he did something really quickly.

The last thing Minato had done was hug them all before he had left them to evacuate. He had smiled the whole time. He was going off to face his death and he hadn't stopped smiling.

Genma had failed the Fourth Hokage.

It was a good thing he had the rest of his life to repent and try to fix his failure.

* * *

The kids were back at it.

"Yo, Genma, we need to buy shōgi." Shikamaru sighed dramatically as he flopped over Genma's bed, all the while the rest of the kid around him screamed and cheered as they planned what they would play next.

Chouji sat down beside his best friend, all the while Genma pocketed his senbon in his mouth once more. "And we also need supplies for the pies Naruto and Kiba want."

"Peanut butter! We need peanut butter too!" Both the Inuzuka and the Uzumaki cheered before they ran off, chasing after Tenten and Sakura in an impromptu game of tag.

Seeing Naruto so happy made Genma's heart swell and hurt at the same time.

He looked so much like his father...

He had been staring after both hyperactive kids as he thought this. But then his attention was captured when he felt a tug at his pant legs. And when he looked down, he found Hinata and Neji standing by his feet, all the while Shino and Ino stood just a bit away from them.

"D-D-Do yo-you thi-think we c-could b-buy f-f-f-flowers to-too?" She questioned shakily, which made Genma's chest warm and a small smile come onto his face.

Hinata had a magical power. He was sure of it. She always made him smile. Just like the other kids did if they acted cute enough.

"And some crickets for my collection too?"

"Ooh! Some new paints wouldn't hurt either! And maybe some pencils so Neji can begin teaching us how to read and write."

The list of things they wanted was long. And he knew for a fact that the rest of the kids also wanted something else.

When he began to calculate all that this would undoubtedly cost him, he felt something soft smack him on the hip. And when he looked down once more, he found Neji smiling up at him, the bandanna around his head tied at his forehead like Genma wore his own.

"We pooled all of our allowances again, Shiranui-San." The boy told him, then cocked his head to the side slightly. "Do you think Sasuke-kun and Itachi-San would be able to come with us today?"

The man looked down at the pouch of money with uncertainty.

The kids had never gotten allowances before. And now that they _did_ get it, it seemed that they only wasted it with him. Didn't their parents ever buy them stuff?

"We could swing by the Uchiha compound to ask, Neji." Shikamaru waved his hand lazily, yawning with a small shake of his head. "Getting so much stuff will be troublesome... Think we could stop to cloud watch?"

These kids were up to something. He was sure of it.

"Let's buy Genma some new pants too! All of his work pants are all covered with paint and/or food!" Tenten suggested as she suddenly appeared by his door, panting and red faced.

Sakura appeared right behind her, looking over the man for a second before murmuring, "And maybe some more stay at home clothes too?"

He made a slight face at her suggestion, but before he could really say anything, both of the hyperactive head demons (because even though they were all demons, Kiba, Naruto, Tenten, and Ino were the ones that commanded everything) appeared. And Naruto had a petition of his own. It just kind of shocked Genma to hear it from him.

"And he needs soap and shampoo too."

He was on his last bottle of shampoo and last bar of soap. But he didn't think any of them would ever think about this. They all hated bath time. He had thought they would rejoice in him running out of the stuff.

There was something fishy about the things they wanted to buy.

"Then it's decided. We'll go out and buy more stuff today." Neji looked around the room to get nods from all of the kids, then looked up at Genma. "Let us get going, Genma-San."

"Even in my fuzzy slippers?"

"Yes!"

The chorus of shouts made Genma chuckle softly. But he just allowed the kids to drag him out of his apartment clad in bright yellow slippers, paint splattered clothes, and loosely wrapped bandanna around his head.

..~..~..

I hope you all liked this chapter. It was a bit harder to write, seeing how I wanted to get Genma right.

You can expect a lot more of Iwashi in this story, too. At the beginning of this, I didn't know his age. But now that I do, I believe that Genma (after essentially adopting eleven terrible tykes and Itachi) would try to help him out too. Besides, he needs more love in this fandom!

And a huge thank you to FoxsoulRedux for the idea of Naruto hugging Genma during their talk! You're awesome!

Reviews make me feel all warm inside like Genma when Hinata asks something from him. So please give me some!


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 5: The Reason why Raidou Owes His Life and Sanity to Genma's Demon Children:_ Say what one might, these kids were anything but stupid. Raidou had been gone for what seemed like too long to be a standard mission. Kakashi stopped coming around and Genma knew that he would eventually have to talk to him. And the kids could tell there was something off, even though they didn't know exactly _what_ was wrong with the adults.

..~..~..

"Hey, Farmer man... Why don't Scarecrow or Rai come around anymore?"

Genma looked down at the young Nara looking up at him with a curious expression on his face, even though the rest of his friends were too busy playing games to notice them talking.

Neji was playing an educational game with Ino to try and teach her what little he knew about reading and writing. Hinata, on the other hand, was busy playing 'Catch the bugs!' with Shino and Chouji by her side. Those three clan kids were the kinder souls of the kids Genma took care of, and it was good to see them having gentle fun together... At least they weren't running around screaming like Tenten, Kiba, and Naruto.

Speaking of the lead hellions...

"You'll never get my alive, ANBU scum!"

"You are wanted for a dozen crimes among the nations, missing-nin Inuzuka! Including the crimes of being a stupid boy, not respecting girls, and ripping Sakura's doll head off of its body!"

"Get him, Tenten! He also stole my chocolate chip cookies, even though he had already eaten his four!"

Genma had no idea where Tenten had gotten the green and blue, overly creepy kappa mask that just about summed up everything creepy about sea life and old wives' tales. Still, it was somewhat big on her and kept sliding down her face, prompting her to stop in her mad dashing after Kiba to right it. Kiba, in the meanwhile, was happily jumping over just about every single piece of furniture Genma owned. Naruto was following after him with a toy sword in his hand, toppling over anything that Kiba had managed to miss as he followed after the Inuzuka.

"Scarecrow and I had..." The man sighed softly, scrunching his face up slightly as he remembered the hurtful words he had told the younger man in a fit of uncontrolled anger. "A _falling out_..."

The Nara looked up at him with a face that read of curiosity and intrigue. And he seemed about to question further, but a shout coming from Kiba stopped him and made him huff in slight annoyance.

"Dad tells me that Bitch Face went out on a mission. But hasn't it been too long?"

Now Kiba suddenly appeared beside the ponytailed boy, panting and huffing, although curious as well.

"What do you mean, Kiba?"

Genma began to feel somewhat worried as all of the kids turned their attention away from their individual tasks to look at him. Shino seemed especially interested, especially from the way he had decided to ask the Inuzuka directly.

"Lord Hiashi has told us that most A-Ranked missions can last from anywhere between one month all the way to two or three." Neji spoke up, putting the large pad of paper he had been using to show the Yamanaka how to read and write. Which prompted the young girl to look at her friends with wide eyes, nodding to herself in a sign of knowing what she was talking about.

"But Shikamaru's dad said Raidou was sent off on a B-Rank. He should be back by now. It's been more than a month." She told them all, then looked up at Genma. "Why isn't he back yet, Gen-Gen?"

He wasn't surprised to hear that Shikaku knew on what kind of mission Raidou had been sent on. It was part of his job. Although it was somewhat odd that he would tell the children about it.

All of the mongrels were looking at him with wide and somewhat worried eyes. Even though they most probably still didn't have a tight grasp on the concept of death or the danger a shinobi wound up in as part of their jobs, they most probably had some idea. Having parents that went out on missions occasionally and treated everything about their lives so seriously would do that to someone.

As he looked down at all of them, the man began to debate over how he should answer. Either he could tell them the cold and hurt truth, that he had no idea where Raidou was and he didn't even know if the bastard was alive. Or he could be nice and easy about said truth, down play it so it wouldn't essentially traumatize them when it came to missions and dangers they ran into.

"Well, kids..." He breathed in, then offered a crooked smile. "The mission he was on most probably ran into a few complications. But Rai's strong. And he's smart. If anyone can get out of some mess, it's him."

It was as if he had just told them that Raidou was going to come back tomorrow. The kids went from looking at him with worry and intrigue to smiling broadly. Kiba even whooped in joy.

"Bitch Face will be back and we'll be able to paint his face again!"

Of course that's what they wanted Raidou back for...

Even though he smiled back at them, Genma couldn't help the worry that clouded the back of his mind. His best friend had been gone for so long. And Ino and Neji had a good argument. Missions like those didn't go on for so long.

He could only hope that Raidou was safe. Because if he wasn't and Genma just stayed here to take care of these kids... He couldn't lose Raidou. Not like this. Not now.

* * *

Knocking on his door woke Genma up from his spot on the couch. Naruto had stayed over once more and had shared his room with Sasuke and Itachi.

He _really_ needed to buy a bed for the guest bedroom. If not for the kids to use as the true guests of his apartment, then for him to have an actual bed to sleep on and not have to wake up to a sore back and stiff neck.

"Come on, Shiranui! I know you're in here!"

With a groan, Genma stretched and rolled his shoulders and neck. Then he stood up, scratched softly at his neck, and walked towards his door. He was pretty sure that whoever was out there had a rather urgent message. But Genma was a bit too tired and hungry to try and rush.

When he opened his door, the senbon enthusiast found Iwashi looking up at him with wide and tear filled eyes. Immediately all sluggishness left him.

"Iwashi? What's wrong?"

"It's Raidou! Genma, he's come back from his mission, but..." The teenager choked softly on his words, shaking his head. "He's in the hospital. Burn trauma."

His heart dropped.

"What- Iwashi, are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" The teenager shouted, stomping his foot in a show of aggression. "Why the hell would I run all the way here from the damned Village Gates if I _wasn't_?!"

Glaring slightly at the anger in the teen's voice, Genma grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him into his apartment, closing the door behind him. The boy squawked slightly at the sudden motion, but didn't stop the older male from doing so. Then the man faced Iwashi completely, looking down at him through narrowed eyes.

"Explain."

Iwashi breathed in deeply before explaining the whole situation to him.

"I was heading over to my shift on guard duty. I like doing it early in the morning because barely nothing ever happens. But when I was about to relieve Hayate and Shinobu from their own shift, there came shouts from outside. And when I looked out, I found two ANBU members carrying Raidou, all the while two others carried Ibiki in." The teen's eyes were wide as he said all this, then his voice quickened, becoming more desperate and terrified. "The squad leader was bleeding, but was shouting out orders and he found me and told me to find you so you could get to the hospital to be with Raidou."

All of the breath had left Genma's body the more Iwashi spoke. ANBU had been forced to get involved in Raidou's B-Ranked mission. And a usual squad was composed of three shinobi. Only two had been brought back from what Iwashi told. Ibiki and Raidou. Who had been their third teammate?

"Gen... His whole body was covered in bandages..." The boy whispered, voice quivering in clear sign of tears. "The only reason I even knew it was him was because they told me it was him... Even his _face_ , Genma..."

Shit.

Genma blinked down at the despondent teenager, then hardened his face and nodded. It would do no good if they were both falling apart. One of them would have to be there for Raidou when he woke up to keep him inside of the hospital. And, clearly, Iwashi was in no state to be the stern hand that keeps the too stubborn Namiashi in a hospital bed.

"Alright, Tatami, here's what we're going to do." The man stepped forward and grabbed both of Iwashi's shoulders, forcing him to look up and into his eyes. "There are three kids in here. Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. I want you to stay with all three of them, give them breakfast, and keep them busy while I go and visit Raidou. If things are as serious as you're saying, I'll send someone to give you the message so you can return these three and any other kid that may arrive to their homes. But if not, I want you to keep all of the kids that come here inside this apartment. Do _not_ bring them to the hospital. No matter how much they beg or how many tantrums they throw."

Genma spoke quickly and with finality, making sure that Iwashi understood he did not want this argued. And from the way Iwashi nodded and looked at him with complete severity, the older believed Iwashi understood how truly pressing the situation was.

"I should be sending someone in an hour or so." Genma breathed out, then looked around his apartment. "The kids know this apartment inside and out. Don't fall for them asking you for help with anything inside drawers or rooms. Just get them stuff from the refrigerator. Have I been understood?"

When Iwashi nodded, Genma nodded back, then looked towards his room and back at the teenager in front of him. "Rai will be fine, Iwashi. Don't worry about him."

His words were strong... At least, he hoped they were... But Genma could feel his insides twisting with uncertainty and fear. Hearing this news from Iwashi immediately made him feel like Raidou was as good as dead. If ANBU had gotten involved, it meant that their mission had gone horribly awry.

And for someone like _Ibiki_ to get taken down... That man had been put through hell back in the war and had come out stronger than ever, even if a bit more unhinged. For someone to bring him down was nearly impossible.

"Have some milk, relax, and know that Raidou will be fine." Genma smirked softly at the teenager, clapping his shoulder before retracting his arms to move towards his room. "He's one tough son of a bitch."

Iwashi didn't move after he said that. But Genma was too busy trying to keep himself upright and seeming confident to worry about that. He opened the door to his room with a steady hand he had to force to stop from shaking, then found himself looking at a very intrigued and curious Uchiha looking at him.

"I've got to step out." The man spoke up carefully, keeping his voice neutral and stable. "I'm going to leave you, Naruto, and your brother here with a friend of mine, Iwashi. He's a chunin, even though he's only fourteen." He explained as he moved towards his closet, unlocking it and opening to hastily grab his clothes from inside. "Listen to him. Keep Sasuke and Naruto in line. And help him with all of the other kids. Can you do that, Itachi?"

The Uchiha looked at him with an analytical eye, but soon nodded, "Of course, Genma-San."

"Good." The man smiled at him, then grabbed his sandals before moving towards his door. "I'm counting on you and Iwashi to keep everything under control, Itachi."

With these final words, the man left his room and went to the bathroom to take a hasty shower and dress to check up on his wounded best friend.

* * *

Raidou looked _unbelievably weak_ engulfed in white, sterile hospital blankets. The IV hooked up to him dripped rhythmically, slowly making Genma feel as if he were going to go insane. And the heart monitor hooked up to him to keep his status in check beat steadily, signifying the relative stability the medics had finally managed to reach with his best friend.

Four hours of intensive surgery. And that wasn't even the reconstructive one. It was just the one to stabilize him.

Raidou was in for even more hours beneath the needle to be able to heal fully.

Breathing out heavily, Genma passed a shaky hand through his hair, having forgone his bandanna two hours ago when he couldn't stop running his fingers through his hair. It was a nervous habit he didn't really show much. He wore his village symbol on a bandanna like that to force himself to not succumb to the nervous tick too often.

The inside of his mouth was bloody and raw. He had chewed both sides of his cheeks by now, missing the senbon that served as a distraction from his gnawing teeth. And he hadn't dared to ask for any senbon from any of the shinobi around because of his frantic nerves.

He had sent word to Iwashi and Itachi three hours ago. And he had lied to hopefully keep Iwashi from rushing in here and giving himself a heart attack through utter worry.

 _'Raidou'll be fine. The medics've all got a good grasp on his situation and say he'll pull through. Take yourself a day off and hang around with the kids. I'll talk to the Hokage for you and explain everything.'_

He'd sent that scroll with Hana. She had been in here for some kind of extra credit project working inside of the hospital or something. And she'd seemed more than happy when he had mentioned that both Iwashi and Itachi would be there to receive the news. He didn't know why that was, but, at the moment, Genma couldn't bother to try and decipher a pre-teen girl's emotions. He could barely figure out a woman's own. Much less someone as _foreign_ as a pre-teen.

Technically, he hadn't lied. He'd merely omitted the truth. Yeah, Raidou was going to be fine and the medics had said they knew exactly what they had to do to heal him. But they had also said it wouldn't surprise them if he ended up more scar than skin on his face by the time he was done healing. And it had taken them hours to stabilize the poor bastard. Something he hadn't told their old teammate.

Ibiki had been just slightly better off with only small burns to his arms and chest. There was going to be a brand new scar that would be added to his collection; this time on his back from where he had narrowly missed getting stabbed through the spine. And he wouldn't be able to go anywhere on his broken legs. But his condition hadn't been as bad as Raidou's own.

Raidou... Genma could only see his chin and bottom lip. The rest was covered by gauze and bandages.

Second degree burns to his torso and upper arms. He'd been lucky to scrape by with those. But... There was worse. _Third_ degree ones on his neck and shoulders had been a horrible sight to see. But none of that compared to what had happened to his face. Third degree. To his _face_.

He had been advised to stay out while the doctors made the initial check up before carting him off to surgery. But Genma had refused, stubborn about staying with his best friend for as long as possible.

He'd never be able to forget how horribly _red_ and _painful_ his best friend's face had looked because of those burns.

His mouth was filled with the metallic taste of blood and he knew he should stop before he accidentally choked on his own blood. But Genma was much too worried for his best friend to even think about what he was doing to himself.

Raidou was currently in a medically induced sleep, morphine having been fed to him for the burns he had suffered. Genma knew for a fact that he'd be in a lot of pain because of those second degree burns. They seemed pretty hurtful. Especially because some rested over his ribs, meaning he wouldn't be able to twist his body around much. But he was terrified for the third degree. He was no fool. Raidou could lose all ability to feel pain in those areas affected because of those burns.

The more he thought about his best friend's condition, the faster his teeth began to chew.

"Geez, you're an even bigger mess than I though you'd be."

A senbon appeared in front of him as soon as the voice had spoken up and Genma pounced on it. He took it like a thirsty man would snatch a glass of water, then popped it into his mouth without any hesitation.

There was a chuckle from the person that had offered the senbon, but Genma refused to look up. Instead he looked down at the senbon now in his mouth, rolling it with his tongue and working his jaw to occupy himself.

"That could have been poisoned. You could die from accepting a stranger's senbon, idiot."

With a soft sigh, the man looked up and just about keeled over.

Kakashi was speaking to him. Not only that, but he was actually smiling softly. And he didn't sound even the least bit angry.

The man looked the same as when Genma had stormed away from him. The only difference being that bandages were wrapped around his whole left arm, lacking the usual long sleeved shirt he wore.

"I knew you weren't a stranger." Genma murmured softly as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest to look back at Raidou.

He knew his best friend wasn't going to wake up any time soon. But he still felt as if there was an off chance that he _could_. And he wanted to be the first thing he saw.

Raidou _hated_ hospitals. Just like the rest of them. But he hated them for a reason that even Genma did not know. It was actually one of the few secrets Raidou kept that Genma didn't know any specifics about.

"Sure. Just like you knew that Tsume's here with Kiba and Ino."

With a jolt of energy Genma didn't know he had in him, the man jumped up from his chair to look at the doorway. He must have looked like a madman. But he didn't want the kids anywhere near Raidou in this state. He would undoubtedly scare them from the way he looked. He was _different_. And if terrified Genma, he could only imagine what feelings seeing his would bring to the kids.

There was a soft sigh from Kakashi but there weren't any children in the doorway. Turning a glare onto the younger male, Genma found him shaking his head softly.

"They're currently trying to get past the medic nin that refuse to allow children into the burn unit. I thought I would give you a heads up so you'd have some composure when Tsume finally manages to break through their lines." Kakashi explained almost tiredly, scratching at the bandages on his arm uncomfortably.

Breathing out with relief, Genma looked at the other male with worry. "And the rest of the kids?"

Kakashi looked him over for a few seconds before answering. And Genma knew exactly why he did that. He must have looked like hell. He sure _felt_ like it.

"Iwashi, Itachi, and Hana are currently distracting them by buying get well items for Raidou. Kiba and Ino, though, insisted they wanted to see Raidou as quickly as possible. They convinced his mom to bring them."

Genma nodded softly at the information, then looked back at Raidou and slumped his shoulders. "Kakashi... I don't think it'd be right for them to see him like this..." The man sighed, shaking his head softly.

Kakashi raised a hand to his shoulder and patted it softly, "If you want to keep them out, I'll help. But they should know that this will be a part of their future. They are all going to learn to be ninja, after all."

This drove a spike of fear straight through Genma's heart.

 _They're going to be ninja after all... This could be them in a couple of years..._

"I'm sure, Kakashi." Genma turned to the silver haired man with hard eyes, "And I know that Rai wouldn't be too crazy about little kids seeing him like this. He has an image to keep, after all."

Kakashi looked down at their friend and sighed heavily. "Alright. We'll break some kiddie hearts today."

It would hurt to see the children hurt by his decision. But Genma was adamant about keeping them from seeing his friend. Raidou wouldn't like to be seen in such a state by those kids. He wanted them to respect him, not pity him. And the kids... They just weren't ready for this. He was sure of it.

* * *

They had fought like hell. All of the kids had wanted to see Raidou. Even Iwashi had joined in. But Genma and Kakashi had been successful in keeping them all out of the room. Itachi and Hana had just watched the children try and take outsmart two grown men, politely staying out of the issue. Tsume hadn't said a single thing, keeping an uncharacteristic neutral stance as her son tried to muscle his way into Raidou's room to tell him to hurry up and get better.

After that afternoon, Genma stayed at the hospital for a whole night before Raidou woke up. Tsume had been kind enough to offer to take over his usual duties with the children and had taken the kids to the Inuzuka compound to keep watch of all of them.

It had hurt to see the way the kids had all glared at him. But Genma stood sure in his decision. Raidou wouldn't want to be seen and the kids weren't ready for it. He knew all of them too well.

Kakashi had left when the sun set, come back with food, blankets, and two steaming mugs of coffee. They had eaten in relative silence and found comfort in it. Even though they usually had an easy kind of banter going on between them, Genma didn't feel it was appropriate for the situation. Especially seeing how they had yet to speak about the way he had blown up at Kakashi because of the whole Naruto thing.

He had fallen asleep on an extremely uncomfortable chair with a much too soft blanket thrown over him. The sounds that lulled him to sleep were those of Raidou and Kakashi breathing, along with the machines connected to his best friend.

When he woke up the next morning, it was to Kakashi offering him food and coffee once more. He accepted it without any hesitation and began to munch on his toast with hunger biting at his stomach just slightly.

"So..." Kakashi broke the silence that had settled over them, sounding somewhat curious. "I noticed Naruto's still in the group."

Genma found it a bit difficult to swallow with a suddenly dry throat. But he gulped down a bit of coffee before nodding, sighing softly.

He knew this conversation was coming. He shouldn't be shocked by it.

"I... Uh... Yeah. He's a good addition. Backs Kiba up whenever he's about to get his ass kicked by Tenten and Ino." Genma admitted shakily, then exhaled heavily to look at his friend. "Listen, Kakashi, those things I said- you were right. I was an idiot and I see it now. I never should have said what I did."

The man looked back at him with an unreadable expression, "Doesn't mean you were lying, though."

They weren't talking about Naruto anymore. They were talking about Kakashi's lack of involvement in the Nine Tails' attack. And Genma felt even more rotten than before.

"Just because it's the truth doesn't mean I have to throw it in your face. It was immature and disrespectful of me to say what I did." Genma admitted, looking down at the tray of food on his lap. "And I was an ass. That kid's more than just the demon. And it took me way too long to see it."

There was a moment of silence in which neither of them said anything. Genma found himself worrying about Kakashi telling him that this would be the last time they spoke as friends. But the next thing he said... Well, it was such a _Kakashi_ thing to say that he should not have been taken aback by it.

"You're right. You _are_ an ass."

Genma swore he moved his neck so fast he must have gotten whiplash. But when he looked at Kakashi, he didn't find the reproachful and angered look he expected to find. Instead he found the younger man smiling softly, visible eye closed in mirth.

"Luckily for you, I'm the correct person for-"

Kakashi stopped himself as soon as they heard Raidou groan. And the moment of light heartedness that was just about to happen between both of them was shot down and replaced by immediately concern for their comrade. Genma flew to his best friend's side, looking down at him with wide eyes.

It took minutes for Raidou to finally open his eyes. But when he did so, Genma couldn't help the small smile that made its way onto his lips.

"Rai..." He breathed out, happy to finally see his best friend's open eyes once more.

But the relief that was beginning to course through him was extremely short lived. Not even a minute after setting his eyes on Genma, Raidou was glaring with one of the most hateful looks Genma had ever seen in his life.

"Get. Out."

His teeth gritted together and his jaw was unbelievably tight.

Genma looked down at his friend in bewilderment, and opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by him.

"Get out of here, Shiranui!" Raidou shouted suddenly, voice seemingly unharmed by everything that had happened to him. "Get the fuck out of my room right now!"

"But, Rai-"

"OUT! AND DON'T LET ME SEE YOUR FACE EVER AGAIN, BASTARD!"

Genma had never run out of a room as hurt as he did that day.

* * *

"Come on, Farmer man! It's been two months! Let us go and visit Rai!"

Genma forced himself to hide the sadness and worry that wanted to come over him as soon as he heard that name, looking down at the kids in front of him with a neutral expression on his face.

A whole month had passed since Raidou had returned to the village from a mission that had horribly gone wrong. One whole moth since Genma had been kicked out of his room without a single explanation as to why. A whole month without seeing his best friend and having to listen to the kids beg to go and visit him.

None of their friends could explain to him why he had been so violent in throwing him out of the room. But they told him that he didn't really talk to anybody. Raidou, even though he allowed company, didn't partake in any conversation. The only time he had talked had been with the Hokage to give his mission report. But that had been it. Nothing after that.

Ibiki wasn't any better off. But he at least answered Inoichi and Ino when they visited. He also spoke to Anko, but that was about it. The man hadn't been much of a talker before. And from the whispers Genma had heart, he certainly wasn't one now. But he still spoke more than Raidou. And that terrified him. For even though Raidou had never been too big on speaking, he had never denied anyone of a conversation like this.

"I know you're worried, Ino, but we can't." Genma kept his tone calm and composed, even though on the inside all he wanted to do was run to his best friend and shake him back to reality.

Knowing that Raidou was in pain and refusing any kind of contact worried him. He tried to keep the worry from showing through, but he was sure the kids had already noticed this. He didn't really tolerate as many of their pranks as he used to. And he would grow frustrated of even the smallest of things. He'd even ended up making them all wash their dishes after a particularly messy dinner together.

Coming over to his apartment was no longer fun for any of them. And it sucked, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was much too terrified for his friend's safety to think about how he was affecting the kids.

But he hadn't gone back to Raidou. The coward in him didn't want to face the harsh reality of Raidou never wanting to be friends again. So instead of facing him, the man just avoided him. Even though his every waking thought revolved around how his best friend may be, he stayed away. All to not have to hear Raidou tell him their friendship was over once more.

"But-"

"No buts, Ino." Genma snarled at the girl, then sighed and shook his head. "Why don't you kids entertain yourself finger painting or something?" He murmured softly, feeling a headache coming on. "I'm going to go and lay down."

The kids shuffled around quickly behind him, but the man didn't think much about it.

"We _have_ to do something about this... Farmer man's not right..."

"It's all Bitch Face's fault! We've got to set that man straight!"

"For once, Kiba, I agree with you."

Genma shook his head and opened the door to his room. He didn't even care what those kids were thinking of.

He had been so worried for his best friend... Only to get thrown out of the room like some great villain...

* * *

Getting to Raidou's apartment wasn't difficult. Scarecrow had been more than okay with helping them try and mend a broken friendship. And because their parents all thought they would be in Genma's apartment, it wasn't difficult to make time to head out and get to the wounded man's home.

They had all agreed: Genma's bad mood was because of Raidou. They didn't know what had happened between both men, but the kids all knew that it must have been bad for Farmer man to be so angry all of the time.

No longer did their favorite man smile. He tried to fool them with soft smiles, but they knew better than to believe those came from his honest feelings. Genma was in pain, his temper was shorter than ever, and for some reason beyond them, he was doing nothing to solve the problem between them. Their Farmer man wasn't the same. And they didn't like it.

"Tenten, you're up."

Kiba murmured as they all looked up at the door that stood between them and their target, which prompted the girl to step forward and begin to pick the lock.

Even though he would have been more than happy to be the one to pick the lock, Tenten was more experienced. And for once, he could set his feelings aside to be able to complete what he needed to do.

Scarecrow had been kind enough to deactivate all of the traps Raidou had set up around his apartment. But he'd had to leave them to their own devices for some reason he hadn't explained. But they hadn't been bothered by this, seeing how they were much too eager to slap some sense into Raidou.

"Alright." Tenten whispered as the lock clicked, then smiled at her friends. "Door's open. Shino, you're up."

The young Aburame walked forward and extended one arm, a small bug crawling on his finger before flying off and into the slightly ajar door. All eleven children shifted somewhat impatiently as they waited for the scout bug to come back. And when it did, Shino nodded at them.

It was safe to enter.

Neji was the first to step inside, seeing how he was the one that knew the most about fighting. Then went Tenten and Kiba because they had called first dibs on Raidou. Then entered the rest of the children, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura lagging behind. They had not met the Bitch Face all of the kids were eager to confront but weren't about to miss out on a good show.

Kiba sniffed at the air while Neji activated his Byakugan. Then, almost simultaneously, they pointed at a hallway to the right side of the apartment, "He's in there."

The kids all nodded and followed after their friends. Neji deactivated his kekkai genkkai. For, even though he could use it, it cost him a lot of effort to do so.

Raidou's apartment was different from Genma's own. While Genma's had a large greeting room that doubled as a family room as soon as one entered it, with a kitchen to the right, a dining table between these, and a hallway straight through the middle of it to get to the other rooms, Raidou's was laid out differently. The kitchen was to the back of the apartment, the greeting room was in front of it, there was no dining table, and the hallway that went to the rest of the room was to the right of the small space.

It was also extremely dark, had no signs of any kind of personalization, and no flowers or plants. It was dull and cold.

Ino immediately began to plan ways to liven the place up.

When they reached the door Neji and Kiba had pointed to, the Inuzuka placed his ear against it. His face screwed up as he listened, then he frowned deeply.

"Guys... He's crying..."

All of the kids looked at him in shock. But Kiba's eyes merely narrowed, growing darker. And suddenly, he twisted the knob and kicked the door open, shouting, "Bitch Face! We love your face!"

"Kiba-kun!"

"What are you doing, you stupid numbskull?!"

"Get back here you idiot!"

Kiba rushed into the room before any of his friends could stop him. And the man turned to them with wide, red rimmed eyes. But before he could properly react to the intruders in his apartment, the man gasped and jumped out of his bed, running over to the dresser on the far side of his room to throw one of the drawers open and begin to rummage through it quickly.

"What do you think you're doing, Kiba?!" Ino walked up to her friend and smacked him harshly to the back of the head, which made him sneer back at her.

"What do you think I'm doing?! I'm telling Raidou he's being an idiot and his face is okay!"

The girl glared at him, "Just _what_ is wrong with his face?!"

"Do you think I know?!" He shouted back, pointing at the man. "But he's in here muttering about how ugly his face is now and how he wants nobody to see him! Which is just about the dumbest thing I've ever heard because he doesn't have an ugly face! Not pretty, but not ugly either!"

The kids were all left bewildered by the Inuzuka's words. But they soon heard Raidou smashing his fists against his dresser, "Dammit! Where did they all go!?"

This made all of the children look at him in surprise and slight fear. They had never heard an adult scream with so much anger. And when they looked at him, they noticed that the mirror to his dresser had been smashed into a million pieces, rendering it unusable for its true purpose.

"Where did what go, Raidou?" Tenten questioned softly, daring to take one step forward even with how scared she was.

"My bandages!" He growled back, turning his face to them with one hand covering most of it except his eye. "I can't let anyone see my face!"

His scream was filled with rage. And even though the kids couldn't understand why he was so angry, they could tell that he _was_. And they immediately recoiled at the rage seemingly flowing out of him, caught off guard by it.

They all looked at each other completely scared. They didn't know what to do. The Raidou before them wasn't the one they were used to. He wasn't scolding them for having broken into his home. And he wasn't questioning where their mother hen was. He was just... Screaming for his bandages.

Hinata was the one to break them out of their stupor. Bravely, yet with shaky steps, the young Hyuga walked towards the distraught man. And when she was finally close to him, the girl tugged at his pant leg, grabbing his attention.

"What do you want, brat?" He hissed, hand still covering up his face.

The young girl flinched at his tone and Neji immediately took a step forward, moving to protect his cousin no matter what. But Hinata surprised them all by clutching the man's leg with both hands, pushing herself up to begin to _climb_ him.

None of them had ever seen Hinata climb _anything_. So all of the kids were left stunned. Especially because of the determined glare now on the Hyuga's face.

It took seconds of struggling for Raidou to finally take some pity on the girl and pick her up with the hand that he wasn't using. But he did so with a huge frown tugging at the corner of his lips, glare almost dangerous.

"What do you want?" He sneered, which once more had Hinata flinching away in fear.

But once more the girl pushed through her fear, and raised her hands to touch the side of the man's face.

"N-n-not u-u-ugg-gly..." She stuttered out, eyes wide as she looked directly into his eyes. "P-pr-pretty."

For a moment, all of the kids were terrified of what Raidou might do in anger. But his face softened just slightly, eyes losing their killer intent as he looked down at the girl.

"You wouldn't say that if I moved my hand away." He mumbled, suddenly sounding alone and small.

Tenten ran up to him immediately, Sakura and Ino following without any hesitation.

"Then move your hand!" The girl dared, glaring up at him. "If you're actually so hideous, then I want to see! We have a right to know why it is you've thrown Genma by the wayside!"

Raidou looked down at her through narrowed eyes. But he didn't glare, exactly. He didn't seem so angry anymore.

Leave it to Hinata to soothe just about any raging beast.

"If you kids get nightmares, you'll only have yourselves to blame." He warned them, then closed his eyes, breathed in deeply, and dropped his hand from his face.

The reaction was immediately. All of the kids gasped in shock and awe at the mark that now marred his once clear skin. Right bellows his left eye was a painful looking burn, still in the stages of being healed. But they didn't need to be smart to know that it would scar, leaving his face marred for the rest of his life.

"Oh my God! What happened?!" Tenten gasped, raising her hands to cover her mouth as soon as her eyes fell on the injury.

Raidou didn't look at them. He kept his eyes closed, fist tight by his side as he carried Hinata with the other.

"A mission..." He whispered, then moved so his back was to them once more. "Listen, kids, just get out... I don't want anyone to see me like this..."

Tenten looked at Ino with wide eyes. Sakura had tears in her own, caught completely off guard by how painful the injury looked. And the rest of the boys looked at one another, unsure as to what they would do.

 _None_ of them had thought they would be faced with what they found.

This was far beyond their scope of understanding.

Hinata speaking up broke them out of their stunned silence once more. "P-pretty."

"You have a very skewed definition of the word, kid."

"B-be-beautifu-ful."

"Kid, I'm going to put you down now. And I want you _all_ to get out-"

"Not going to happen!" Tenten suddenly shouted, running towards Raidou to hug his leg tightly. "You're handsome, Rai. No scar will ever change that!"

Raidou glared down at the little girl latched onto his leg, "You kids are starting to get on my nerves."

"Good!" Ino ran up to him, hugging his other leg. "Sure, you're going to get a gnarly scar. What's so bad about that!? Don't you know all women like cool scars!?"

The boys looked at one another as even Sakura ran up to hug the man, then they all nodded. They could see what their friends were doing. So they too walked towards the man, hugging his legs just like the girls.

"We're not letting you go until you admit you're awesome, Rai." Kiba glared up at him, "And until you promise to go and fix your ruined friendship with Farmer man."

Raidou couldn't move unless he wanted to hurt them. Which was right where they wanted him. If he couldn't move, he couldn't run. And if they all worked together, then they would get the man to admit he wasn't too ugly.

The injury was scary. All of them knew it. But they also knew it was a part of a ninja's life to get injured.

"It's not like you last an arm, dude!" Naruto smiled up at him, which made Shikamaru slap him softly.

"That was stupid of you." The Nara murmured, then looked up at the strange man he had just met today. "But he has a point."

* * *

"What do you mean the children are not here?"

"Just what I told you, Lord Hiashi!" Genma hissed back at the angered Hyuga, "They never came here!"

"But they were supposed to come here!" Tsume growled at Genma, sneering at the younger male. "How did you manage to lose _eleven_ _children_?!"

Genma glared at all of the adults glaring back at him, feeling his patience running thin. He usually could tolerate a lot. But being called a liar by adults that were supposed to know better was something he just couldn't accept easily.

"I didn't lose _anybody_! Dammit, those kids never came here!" The man shouted back, "They _didn't_ come!"

All of the parents looked at him with varying looks of worry and confusion. Shikaku stepped forward, though, with a much more composed look on his face.

"Have you heard the children talking about possibly going somewhere? Maybe running off to do something?"

Genma pinched the bridge of his nose with a sharp exhale, shaking his head. He had a migraine, he'd only eaten instant foods all day, and now he was being blamed for the kids pulling a disappearing act.

Where could they possibly be?!

"Hey! Their parents are here! Why didn't you tell us they would be here, Rai?"

The door to his apartment flew open with that shout, and all of the adults looked towards it to find all of the children walking inside, Raidou following behind them with Hinata clutched tightly in his hands.

Genma couldn't help but stare at his best friend. He had bandages covering the burn wound on his face, but he didn't look as angry as he had back when he had thrown him out of his hospital room.

"Because it was a given that they would be here, Naruto." Raidou breathed out, a ghost of a smile on his lips. Then he looked up at all of the adults, giving them a nod. "Your children decided to invade my home."

..~..~..

I wanted a chapter of Raidou angst before continuing with the story. The following chapters will deal with the fallout of the kids playing hookie, beginning at the Academy, and Genma dealing with all of this.

Hope you all liked it! Please review!


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7: How the Academy Teachers Began to Expect Genma coming around for all Parent-Teacher Conferences:_ Genma found out that if he did not tread carefully, the kids would all end up as spoiled brats. Then, the seeds of a rather interesting idea are unknowingly planted in the minds of the children by Genma's horrible friends. And, as if that hadn't been enough, Genma ends up becoming the go to person for all parent-teacher conferences.

..~..~..

The parents had been more than just angered at the kids having deceived them all. None of them had found the situation even marginally funny, even though Raidou had used such humor inducing words when he first appeared with the kids accompanying him.

"Where did you kids go?" Tsume growled as she ran up to her son, scooping him up with a stern glare on her face.

The young Inuzuka only smiled up at his mother, then pointed over at Raidou. "We were getting Rai back to normal. It worked!"

The injured man rolled his eyes at the boy's words, although he allowed himself to be pulled into Genma's apartment by them. Hinata was clinging to him much like she liked to do with Genma, all the while Tenten held onto his hand with a determination the senbon enthusiast had never seen in the dark haired girl before.

"Neji, Hinata!" Hiashi turned to both of the Hyuga children with a stern glare of his own, which made both of them shirk away from him.

"What in the world did you kids think you were doing?" Shikaku sighed as he looked at the kids with a mix of fondness of worry, all the while Hiashi glared at him for interrupting the scolding he was about to give.

"Kiba already answered, pineapple dude." Naruto answered with a haughty crossing of his arms, "We were getting Raidou back to normal. I don't understand what you're all so upset about. We're back here, Raidou's back, and nobody got hurt."

Genma couldn't believe the nerve of the blonde boy to speak up against a clan head. But he was left even more dumbfounded by the way the parents all turned to look at each other and seemed to have a silent conversation before nodding in unison.

"Just don't do anything stupid like this again." Shikaku sighed, then motioned for the kids he had been sent to fetch an hour ago. "Make sure Genma is with you at all times if none of the parents can be. We don't want any of you getting kidnapped."

Genma blinked at the man as the kids began to agree to his terms, then looked over at Hiashi and Tsume to find that they weren't glaring anymore.

Where were the shouts? Where was the scolding and the threats about never going off like that ever again? Where were the punishments that would need to be dished out to make sure the kids didn't do something this _stupid_ ever again?!

"Can we stay over with Rai and Genma?"

Okay. They were being soft on the kids. Most probably because this was the first time they did anything as stupid and dangerous like this. But there was no way that any of the parents would actually _agree_ to let the kids stay-

"... Sure. And I don't think Inoichi or Chouza will have a problem with that."

"You're going to have to clean out the kennels once you get back home, pup. But I'll go ahead and fetch your clothes for you and tell Fugaku, Takeo, and Shibi their kids will be staying over as well."

"I will allow it. But you two should have in mind that as soon as you return to the compound, it is back to training and learning."

... These kids would be the death of him...

* * *

They never actually got around to Raidou explaining what the hell had been up with him when he'd thrown Genma out of his hospital room. And Genma didn't really push because he was terrified of losing his best friend to anger again.

Raidou wasn't usually a secretive type of person. But when he kept secrets, it was for a reason. It hurt Genma beyond belief to have had his best friend scream at him to get the fuck out of his hospital room. Even more so when he ended up having to stay away from him, which ended up affecting his whole life. But when Raidou wanted to keep something hidden, he was an expert at avoiding all conversations about it. Even more so than Genma.

Time went on, though. Even though the wounds in their friendship were fresh, Genma and Raidou somehow managed to make it work. The kids were an extremely good buffer between any awkwardness that built up between them. Running after them was a full time job and since Raidou was busy recovering, he was not sent off on any missions and helped Genma out. Which meant that apart from eleven hyperactive kids, one Itachi and sometimes even Iwashi and Hana, Genma ended up having to deal with crass best friends that didn't know how to keep their damned mouths shut.

"Who would have thought he'd be the mother out of all of us!?"

"I mean, like, seriously! I never knew he'd even swing that way!"

"Damn it, Kakashi! Shut up about that!"

"What? Is your _husband_ going to attack us?"

The silver haired bastard merely smirked at Genma with a dastardly twinkle in his eye, all the while Raidou and Iwashi snickered close behind them.

"What do you mean 'swing', Scarecrow? Like batting? Do you guys play baseball?"

Genma growled at his three supposed friends as they broke out into raucous laughter, then looked down at the children looking up at them with unrestricted wonder. These kids were just too curious.

Even though he had never been one to particularly stress over his sexuality, he knew for a fact that the Hyuga and Uchiha both valued conservative values and lifestyles. Although from what he knew about the Inuzuka, they were about as free as a couple of demonic, hyperactive birds flying through the air... With dangerous weapons at their disposal...

He still wasn't sure why Kakashi kept giving them that stuff.

And then there were the kids he had no idea what to think of their parents. The Yamanka, Nara, and Akimichi clans were all rather tolerant, but he didn't really know Shikaku or Inoichi's thoughts on things like these. Choza, back when he had been Genma's teacher, had never given him a reason to believe he could ever possibly be angry with people that weren't enemies, but there were some lines one did not cross with kids that weren't one's own. And Sakura and Tenten's parents were as much mysterious.

He wouldn't get in trouble for Naruto... But the kid was as immature and foolish as Kiba.

With an irked smile, Genma diverted the conversation away from what the phrase could mean. "Would you kids like to go to the zoo today? Scarecrow, Rai, and Iwashi will all accompany us because they're such awesome friends."

The one good thing about kids was that they were predictable. Dangle a golden carrot, they'd chase after it. At the mention of a zoo, all of the kids immediately shouted out in excitement.

* * *

Time passed rather quickly in a placid and extremely comfortable pace. Days blurred together into weeks and months. Even though he wasn't sent on many missions, Genma managed to keep a steady income by not wasting too much money, budgeting, and using the kids' allowance whenever they decided they wanted to buy something new.

It was suspicious how they always seemed so keen on buying things for the apartment. When he needed things like toilet paper, soap, shampoo, or even _tooth paste_ , they found a way to buy some for him. They always used the excuse that it was because they used up all of his supplies. But Genma found this rather hard to believe, seeing how they barely cared at all about their personal hygiene.

When Naruto's birthday rolled around was the only time he was allowed to go on an out of village mission. But he'd only been allowed to go on it by the Hokage after having explained by Iwashi had missed his shift at gate duty and giving a brief on Naruto's behavior while around all of the children.

Genma knew that Naruto's safety was one of the Hokage's greatest fears. But he couldn't look at Minato's clone on the day of his death's anniversary. He may be healing, but he wasn't strong enough to face that yet. So he'd gone off on a mission with Anko Mitarashi and Daichi Inuzuka (Kiba's somewhat level headed yet still extremely _Inuzuka_ father) to recover a stolen scroll.

From what he'd been told, the kids had still thrown a birthday party for their blonde friend. Scarecrow and the parents had all attended. Although Iwashi and Raidou were both unable to for different reasons.

Months bled together and soon enough a whole year had passed. It was August again, all of the kids had celebrated at least one birthday with him, and Genma had been forced to share yet another birthday with Neji and Kiba. Although this time, Sasuke and Itachi had both joined in as well. And the Uchiha had been pleasantly surprised by the bandannas they received, Itachi's sporting the metal plate with Konoha's symbol he now wore on most days.

Neji was six and beginning the Academy on this very day. Itachi was nine and was off on another mission. And Sasuke was accompanying him with the rest of the kids as they walked both new Academy students to their school.

The streets of Konoha were filled with people bustling about their daily lives, although they made a wide berth to allow Genma and the kids to walk without getting separated. The sun was shining brightly in the sky, there were fluffy and white clouds speckling a light blue sky, and Genma could tell today would be a good day.

"And you'll be able to teach us everything you learn!"

"Yeah! More kunai and senbon tricks!"

Kiba and Naruto were more than eager to start in the Academy, even though they were still a year away from it.

"Do you think you'll get all the best grades, Neji?" Ino asked curiously, which made the Hyuga smile softly at her.

"That is what Lord Hiashi wishes."

Genma didn't really like what Neji said. But he understood that he couldn't change family dynamics, no matter how weird he thought it was that Neji seemed to have so much weight rested on his shoulders. He understood the boy was a prodigy... But... Well... He didn't like the idea of pushing little kids so much. There was a reason they were still _kids_ , after all.

"Tenten, I'm counting on you to behave." Genma murmured as he patted the young girl's head, which made her smack at his hands and pout up at him.

Because she had grown, Genma had seen himself forced to buy her a brand new bandanna to wear on her head. This one was red with dark red stripes and matched pretty well with her outfit. Neji's own was a new yet simple blue bandanna.

The kids had all needed new bandannas after a year. Be it from growth or ruining the pieces of cloth, Genma had decided that from now on until they left him, the only birthday gifts they would ever receive from him would be bandannas for their heads.

... Maybe he could gift them bandannas with forehead protectors once they became genin... He'd already done it with Itachi, after all...

"I'm plenty well behaved, Farmer man!" The girl growled up at him, then huffed. "I don't see you telling _Neji_ to behave."

The young Hyuga looked up at him, curiosity clear in those pale eyes, which made Genma smirk down at him and pat him on the head. "I don't _need_ to tell Neji to behave because he does so. You, on the other hand, are the most dangerous kid I think I've ever met in my life-"

"More than me and Naruto?!"

Genma just ignored the question with a suppressed roll of his eyes, "And need to be reminded to not to try and kill any of the kids that'll be with you in class. These kids aren't used to you, Tenten, and you're kind of terrifying."

"Just _kind of_?!"

Naruto was clearly insulted by this, just like Kiba, but the senbon enthusiast didn't pay any attention to them as he continued walking down the path to the Academy. The kids were all walking beside him, clearly enjoying walking their good friends to their first day in their school.

Hinata, though, was holding onto Neji's hand with fear clear in her eyes. This would be the first time she would be anywhere outside of the Hyuga compound without her cousin and protector.

"As long as you don't end up injuring any kids, I'm sure you'll be able to become a genin in a few years, though." Genma finished with a small shrug, then smiled softly down at both kids. "I know you'll both make your parents proud."

They both smiled up at him with determination shining in their eyes and nodded. "We'll make you proud too, Genma-nii-san!"

Genma almost keeled over at the title.

But the children continued walking as if there were nothing different or new about what he had been called by Neji. And Genma had to follow quickly after them to make sure that Tenten didn't end up trying to choke Naruto or Kiba when they insisted she was a monster capable of murdering ten thousand enemies with just a single whine.

* * *

Over the years, Genma had been forced to deal with just about every single situation he never, in a million years, would have thought he'd be forced to deal with. Mostly because the parents of the children he took care of seemed to have decided that he was a good substitute for them whenever they couldn't attend parent-teacher conferences.

The first time he was forced to meet with a teacher at the academy was because Tenten had gotten in trouble for throwing a kunai at a fellow student during target practice. Neither of her parents were in the village at the moment, her father was off on a mission while her mother went to visit a sick family member in a nearby town, and she had been staying with him during that time.

The call made to Tenten's parents had somehow been redirected to him and Genma found himself having to leave the rest of the terrible tykes (all of whom were mostly five years old and finding out about the wonders of getting to places faster with their longer legs) with Kakashi and Raidou. They really did like having their Scarecrow around. And Raidou had really melded in pretty well to their routine, helping keep the kids calm when they tried to go too far.

"Huh? Shiranui-San?" Her teacher, a chunin by the name of Himawari, questioned as soon as he walked into her classroom, all the while Tenten gasped and ran up to him with a broad smile.

The classroom was a bit different from what Genma had remembered his classroom having looked like. The colors were bright, there were toys and childish looking decorations all around, and a green board behind the teacher's desk with 'ABCD stand for Attack, Brain, Concentration and Defense!' and a smiley face beneath the rather cheesy message.

There was a lightness in this room that hadn't been there when Genma had passed through this very building. And the paint on the walls was now a subtle cream, no longer a dull gray.

There was even an apple on the teacher's desk.

"I told you Genma was going to come here! Quick, Genma, throw a senbon at her neck so we can make a speedy get away!"

She had been spending too much time with Kiba, apparently, even though she spent her days at the Academy.

Genma just patted the girl's clothed head, sat her down, then sat down beside her and in front of the teacher's desk. And after listening to the woman tell him about Tenten's attitude in class, the man shrugged. "Quite frankly, these are all signs of a smart kid. Acting out in class, answering to teachers, getting revenge when students are being stupid: It's all normal."

"She should not be disrespecting her superiors, Shiranui-San."

Quite frankly, Genma could not completely understand just what was so wrong about Tenten making her thoughts be heard. The only reason he had not been a problem child back in the Academy was because he hadn't really cared enough to cause trouble. But he'd passed with good grades because he had been smart enough to understand everything being taught, even though he never paid attention.

Besides, that kid had deserved that kunai to be thrown at his head. Where did he get off on insulting Tenten? Why wasn't he hearing about the kid getting in trouble for being such a prissy little shit?

"No, she shouldn't be." The man conceded with a sigh, then looked at the little girl. "But I thought we were here because of the kunai she threw at the little shi-jerk's head."

The kunoichi glared at him at the close call with the crass word. But, really, Genma just didn't care about what she thought. He knew for a fact that all of the kids he took care of had a good head on their shoulders. Especially Tenten. Even with all of the lip she gave him, all the fights she may start, and all the grief she may cause, the girl was smart and caring. He knew this with complete certainty. He'd watched her grow up before his eyes, after all.

He'd just have to wait for her teachers to see her true potential. These Academy teachers were smart and it was only the beginning of the term. They'd figure it out. He was sure of it.

~/~

The second time he was forced to go to a parent-teacher conference as a substitute for a parent was when he had been asked by Hiashi to take his place. The clan head was extremely busy, Genma only took care of hyperactive five year olds, and Neji really needed someone to go as an adult for him.

Genma had not expected much of anything when it came to the young Hyuga. He certainly had not been called in for the same reason he had been forced to go in for Tenten a week ago. And when the young teacher that had scolded him for his indifferent attitude towards Tenten's 'horrible' (independent) attitude told him the Hyuga was excelling far beyond anyone could have foreseen, Genma was barely taken aback.

"We wish to move Neji to the seven year old class. He already has an unbelievable amount of knowledge for a six year old. We believe he would be better off with those older than him."

"Uh..." Genma blinked at the woman as Neji sat rigid on the chair beside him, "I don't think I'm the person you should be asking."

"But Lord Hiashi sent you in his place." The woman huffed, clearly still somewhat haughty after their first encounter. "He knew what this meeting would be about. Clearly he trusts you with Neji-kun's education."

Genma turned to look at the young boy, narrowing his eyes. In his opinion, Neji was too smart for most of the kids in his and Tenten's class. Just like Tenten was too smart. But he wasn't here for them both. Just for the clan child.

This left a somewhat bitter taste in Genma's mouth. But he soon stamped his disgust down and turned to look at the young boy beside him.

"What would you like, Neji?" Genma questioned softly, which made the boy's eyes widen in slight surprise.

"What I think?"

Neji was just too adorable when he looked like an actual kid. Smiling softly at him, Genma ruffled the boy's head softly. "Of course, kid. This is _you_ we're talking about, after all. If you feel you're ready to move up a grade, I'll believe you. But I won't fault you for staying where you are."

The boy looked at him with wide pale eyes. Then he turned his head to the teacher, who kept a carefully emotionless expression on her face. Then Neji looked back at Genma, uncertainty clear in his whole body.

"I... I like being in the same classroom as Tenten-Chan." He murmured, "But I believe Lord Hiashi would like me to-"

The man leaned forward and placed a steady hand on the boy's shoulder. "I didn't ask what your uncle wanted, Neji." Genma interrupted softly, "I asked what _you_ wanted. No matter what others want, there's nothing wrong with being a little selfish. You must be your own person, you know."

The beaming smile the Hyuga gave him was enough to make up for the fact that Genma was forced to see this hard assed kunoichi again, even though he never wanted to see her again.

Neji decided to stay in his class. And Genma decided he would need to have a conversation with all of the parents before they decided to make this a pattern.

* * *

He never did get around to having that conversation. While Tenten and Neji were busy learning how to be proper ninja, he found himself having to chase after the rest of the nine little devils left behind.

Hinata didn't really like the fact that she didn't have her cousin around anymore, but she seemed to have a good enough time when with Shino and Chouji. Naruto and Kiba both clearly missed the endless arguing with Tenten, but they managed to find a good substitute in Ino and Sasuke. Sakura came around only once a week like always, and when she was around, she usually glued herself to either Ino or Hinata's side. And Shikamaru spent most of his days either sleeping or cloud watching, which meant he didn't really cause any trouble for him.

"Hey, no! Kiba, no biting!" Genma scooped the growling boy up into his arms, then flicked Naruto on the nose. "Just what has gotten into you kids lately?"

They had seemed even more out of control than usual. Which, really, didn't make any sense! There were less of them now! Why did it feel like there were _twenty_ kids rather than just _nine_?!

"Hey, Farmer man, did you know that Scarecrow has a pretty cool scar under his forehead protector?" Kiba questioned with a broad smile as he turned in Genma's arms, managing to make the man look at him in shock.

"What do you mean, Kiba?"

Kakashi barely ever showed his face. Genma hadn't ever seen it completely, actually. Just both his eyes. The man didn't enjoy showing off his Sharingan, which Genma understood, seeing the unsavory circumstances under which he had gotten it.

"He's got a pretty gnarly scar!" Ino jumped away from Naruto and threw her arms up, asking Genma to pick her up like Kiba. "It's really cool! Although I'm still sure that Rai's scar will be much cooler once it's finally healed."

Genma picked the girl up and looked from the Inuzuka over to the Yamanaka, then sighed softly and shook his head. "You kids and your imagination." He murmured, then looked down at the still fighting Sasuke and Naruto. "Would you kids like to go out to the park?"

"Yeah!"

* * *

The third time he ended up in filling in for a parent at a meeting, it was a double duty. He ended up having to go for both Tenten and Neji.

"Okay... What did Tenten break this time?" Genma groaned as he passed through the threshold of the room, feeling both tired and somewhat annoyed with having to pull a double shift in parenting duties he'd never even wanted.

But as soon as his eyes fell on the teary eyed Tenten, the stoned faced Neji, and the less than amused teacher, all tiredness left and was replaced with worry. Both children were disheveled and there was a small cut beneath Tenten's eye, even though there was just a small forming bruise on Neji's hand.

"Tenten? What's wrong?" He questioned, only for the girl to begin sniffling, clearly close to tears. Then the man looked over at Neji, eyes going wide. "Neji, please tell me what happened?"

"Neji and Tenten got into a fight with four other classmates." The kunoichi answered bluntly, settling a serious and unamused glare on Genma, all the while the man moved to stand behind both kids. "I believed we had agreed that you would work on her defiant attitude, Shiranui-San."

No, they had never agreed on anything. Genma stood fast in his belief that Tenten was perfect just the way she was. The teachers in this Academy had to understand that a girl this bright needed to be paid attention to. She just couldn't be allowed to run loose.

Seriously, was he the only one able to see that she was a text book case of a kid just asking for some attention?

Upon seeing that Genma wasn't about to answer her, the woman continued. "Are you aware that Tenten has been bringing weapons into the Academy? Even though we have strict rules on the usage of kids younger than the age of ten carrying dangerous projectiles?"

The man suppressed the urge to sigh and roll his eyes in exasperation, then looked down at the young girl. She was struggling to keep from crying. And he couldn't bear to see her so broken hearted for so long. So the man merely looked back at the woman, schooling his features to show no emotions.

"I will have a talk with her about weapons and safety with them later today." He promised blandly, even though he didn't really care much about Tenten sneaking senbon or kunai into the Academy because he knew that she had been doing it from the beginning, then asked, "But what happened? What's this about these two getting into a fight?"

So Himawari told him of how Tenten picked a fight with the same kid she had thrown a kunai at a few weeks ago. And, against his better judgement, Neji had allowed himself to get roped into the fighting, which had wound up with the four children crying and blaming him for fighting too rough.

In Genma's mind, he couldn't see what the problem was. Tenten was clearly being picked on by a bully and stood up for herself, then Neji had helped her out like a good friend. The little shits that had picked said fight were undoubtedly blaming Neji and Tenten about the whole thing because they had gotten their asses handed to them and had decided to take the coward's way out.

Were these teachers really this stupid? Why weren't they able to see the picture that was more than clear to him?

"They are to spend the rest of the week in detention as punishment."

Genma had to stop himself from glaring at the younger woman.

"Now, wait a minute. These kids-"

"One is a Hyuga and the other a known trouble maker. No matter what you might try to argue, the punishment will not be revoked or changed." The woman hissed in warning, then glared down at Tenten. "Maybe she'll finally learn that her actions have consequences."

The man's jaw tightened at the unabashed display of disdain for a child, then nodded stiffly. "Come on, kids."

He pulled both children away from the room before the woman could think of some other scathing thing to say. And when he was outside with them both, he merely pulled them into a tight hug and patted them both on the heads.

"I don't know what crawled up that woman's ass, but I know what happened. Neji, good job on protecting Tenten. Tenten, good job on standing up for yourself." He looked Neji in the eyes, then at Tenten, and finally nodded at them. "I'm going to have a talk with your parents about this. That woman's reign of tyranny is going to end if I have anything to say about it."

Tenten burst out crying right there. And he hugged her as tightly as he dared, all the while Neji patted her head softly.

* * *

"We _have_ to speak, Lord Hiashi."

"I am aware you wish to speak about the latest misadventure my nephew managed to stumble upon, but I am a busy man, Genma." Hiashi brushed him off as if he were nothing more than a fly, rounding yet another corner in his much too big home with Genma following briskly after him.

"It's not just about your nephew, Lord Hiashi!" Genma hissed, "It's about his best friend and the fact that _she_ is being targeted by a school teacher!"

"I do not see how that is my problem." The man answered in an emotionless manner, walking down yet another hallway as Genma continued to trail him. "The girl is a wild one. You are most probably over reacting because of your much too intimate connection with her."

Genma had begun to believe that Hiashi may be a somewhat decent man that could care for more than just his clan members. From the way he allowed both his first born daughter and only nephew to run around with a bunch of crazy kids, attended the birthdays, and even allowed a lot of their stupidity, Genma had actually thought the man could help him out.

He refused to believe he was wrong.

"That woman is blatantly playing favorites! She wanted to promote Neji to the next year, even though Tenten is at his same level of knowledge and made no mention of her. And, guess what? The kids those two got into a fight with? All clan kids. Lord Hiashi, she's playing clan favorites to earn favor within those clans!"

"You are over reacting."

It was beginning to bother him how many people kept insisting that. Why couldn't they see he was just doing the best he could by the kids? He couldn't just sit around while he knew that Tenten was being targeted because she didn't come from a clan.

"I am _not_!" He hissed at the man, then sped up his pace and cut Hiashi off from continuing to whatever much too far away destination he had in mind. "Lord Hiashi, I've _never_ asked you for a single favor! I have never turned you or your family away, never given you a single reason to doubt me or my choices." He glared at the man, who's face remained stony. "But I am asking you for just _one_ favor. _One_. Go to the next parent-teacher meeting with Tenten and Neji. And see how different she treats both kids."

The man's face remained stoic and unchanged as the seconds ticked by. And Genma began to truly wonder if he was such a bad judge of character.

"Fine."

But when Hiashi relented, Genma couldn't help the broad smile he flashed.

* * *

Tenten and Neji wound up in yet another fight with the same kids. And this time Hiashi accompanied him, although he remained hidden and unseen by the woman.

It was safe to say Himawari was quickly demoted and banned from being a teacher ever again.

After that, Tenten and Neji returned to him one day after class to tell him about the new and kind teacher they were now being taught under. One that allowed them to paint and draw during their breaks rather than just focus on their ninja training. One that had promised to teach them how throw a kunai properly by the end of the semester if they proved to deserve the lesson.

* * *

One night, as he cooked up food for all of the people staying over at his apartment, Genma was struck with how much his life had changed in the past few years. And it was all because of one lone child crying in a park.

After having seen that his dining table wasn't big enough to fit all of the children, Choza had gifted him with an 'old, ratty thing the family never used'. Which Genma called bullshit on because the table seemed to have been made out of only the finest wood and all of the chairs were about as comfortable as the new bed Itachi had found 'lying around'.

Genma was no fool. He knew that these supposedly unimportant things were these people's way of thanking him for putting up with the kids for so long. He didn't like accepting the help. But it was kind of hard to deny his old sensei of anything, especially with a broadly smiling Chouji offering to prepare a pie to break in the new table. And he couldn't have told the backwards bandanna sporting Itachi that he wouldn't accept the bed after the boy had seen him sleep through many restless nights on his couch.

"Hey, Farmer man," Iwashi suddenly appeared by the door to the kitchen, Itachi and Hana following behind him. "How much until we'll get food?"

It seemed that whenever Itachi or Hana were in the apartment, Iwashi appeared out of thin air. But Genma didn't mind seeing the fifteen year old around because of the fact that he actually _smiled_ and _talked_ with people that weren't just him or Raidou. It was a small kind of victory to see that he had managed to create an odd kind of friendship with both younger kids.

"Do you not see me cooking, young man?" Genma puffed at a strand of hair that fell over his forehead, then turned back to the pot of noodles. "It'll be done when it's done."

"Would you like any-"

"No."

Hana huffed and rolled her eyes, "You didn't even let Itachi finish asking, Genma."

This girl was a much more reserved, respectful, and composed clone of her brother. There was more of Kiba's father inside of her than her mother. But she was still a blunt, honest, and rather crude Inuzuka. And she didn't really hesitate calling him out on anything because, even though she never admitted to it, she cared a lot for the kids he had ended up surrounding himself with.

With a sigh, Genma suppressed the need to tell them to get out of his kitchen and go ahead and bother Kakashi with the rest of the kids, then relented. "Fine... Itachi, what were you going to ask?"

The Uchiha looked at him with a calm look about him, although he could see the worry inside the dark orbs. "Would you like any help, Genma-San? You are cooking for many and have a lot to accomplish before you can rest. If we worked together, we would finish much faster."

The boy was right. Genma knew it. But Genma hadn't really had much help cooking in his life and it didn't feel right to have people working in the kitchen if it wasn't just him.

But Iwashi was a chunin, Itachi seemed to be _months_ away from becoming one, and Hana was really close to graduating and becoming a genin. They were all competent and intelligent kids. And they were a thousand times more respectful than some of the shinobi Genma was unfortunate enough to call friends.

"Quick! We're really close to grabbing his mask! Shino, throw the ants at his face!"

"No, Shino! _No ants_!"

Speaking about horrible friends... Genma sighed as he heard a crash coming from his family room, then nodded softly.

"Scarecrow over there hates anything fried or sweet." He told the kids, who shared a look before looking back up at him.

"So we're going to make something fried or sweet?"

"We're going to make something fried or sweet."

~/~

They were all seated at the large table for the dinner he and the three older kids had prepared.

Genma found himself sandwiched between Hinata and Neji, all the while Itachi aided his brother with his chopsticks, Iwashi snickered at Kakashi's clearly annoyed face, and Hana softly told her brother to not throw any food.

It was odd to see that all of the kids, including the fully ranked shinobi, Kakashi _and_ Raidou had all been able to come tonight. It wasn't even an important day. There were no birthdays to celebrate, no new, outstanding news to tell, and certainly no pressing matters to discuss. But somehow they had all managed to get a leave from their shinobi duties at around the same time and had decided that a good dinner/sleepover at Genma's apartment would be a good way to spend their free time.

He had never had much a family before. His father had died young, his mother had barely been present until she ended up dying quietly a couple of years later, and his older sister had left him as soon as he had graduated the Academy. His childhood had been fractured and spent fighting a war. In all honesty, the only reason he knew what loyalty meant was because of Might Guy and Choza beating the meaning into him through years of hard work. Minato, Raidou, and Iwashi had all added to the definition after he'd left his genin team. And now, all of these people were expanding upon it.

He'd known Kakashi for quite some time. They had been good friends after the war had ended. But they'd never been as good friends as they were now. The teasing he was now subjected to was something Kakashi would have never dared even think of before. And the way the man actually did his best to stick around... It spoke volumes about the usually aloof and distant man.

But these kids... There was a different type of loyalty for them. He'd fight to the death for them, just like he would for the rest of those he called friends. But there was something else to this feeling of loyalty... A closeness and easiness he felt whenever they were around. And his heart clenched horribly, hurting him to no end, whenever he knew they were in trouble.

He'd never felt anything like this before. It was hard to pinpoint, much less describe. But from what he'd heard the few shinobi he liked and sometimes hung around with that had gotten married and had kids, he guessed he had some idea of what he felt.

 _Family_.

He'd never had a family before...

"Hey, Genma?"

He was brought of his thoughts by Shikamaru's curious mentioning of his name. And when he looked at the Nara, he found the boy looking at him with a thoughtful expression.

"Yeah, Shikamaru?"

The dark haired boy thought on his question for a moment, then nudged Chouji's arm. The plump boy looked at his best friend for a moment before nodding, then looked over at Genma with an odd show of determination in his dark eyes.

"Why don't you have a girlfriend, Farmer man?"

The man just about keeled over at the question. And if he sent a senbon into a laughing Kakashi and Raidou's knees, it was simply because the chortling Iwashi was sitting too close to him to get the same treatment.

..~..~..

So I hope you all liked this chapter! It's very possible that the chapters become just a tiny bit shorter because I have begun university once more and the classes are not going to be easy. But I will continue updating for all of my stories! That is a promise!

Please review and make this struggling college student happy!


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter 8: How the Children Somehow Managed to Make Friends with an ANBU Member and Cement their Relationship With Genma:_ The rest of the kids enter the Academy. Genma had thought that, finally, his time as their little care taker would draw to an end. It was unavoidable. Especially after Genma finally agreed to take the job Inoichi kept offering him, meaning he worked a lot more than the kids had ever come to expect from him.

..~..~..

Another year went by with its fair shares of birthdays, pranks, misadventures, and laughs. All of the kids loved being with Genma. They didn't leave him alone for more than a week at a time. And they had somehow ended up dragging Hana, Itachi, and Iwashi into their fun and games, so Genma had to look out for eleven hyperactive children being helped by three more than capable older kids.

It was good, though, to see Iwashi laughing and having fun. And it was even better to hear that he didn't frequent the bar so much now that he had friends and a place to go to after an especially difficult mission.

One lazy Sunday morning, Genma awoke with four small and warm bodies pressed against him.

When Itachi had first given him this bed, the kids had respected the fact that it was meant for Genma alone. But then Hinata had experienced a nightmare and clambered in for Genma to comfort her. And because the man couldn't kick _Hinata_ out, he allowed her to stay. On a later night, Sakura dreamt about something bad and asked to sleep in the same room as him. And then Chouji had done so. And then Shino. And then Ino. And by the time Kiba and Naruto tried to lie about nightmares, Genma couldn't really turn them away.

But he kept strict rules about the new bedroom. It was only to be used for sleeping. Jumping and having fun was left for his regular bedroom. But because this room was still relatively unscathed, they couldn't go wild. And because the bed wasn't big enough for _all_ of them, there was a limit to how many could come in.

Said limit was supposed to be two. Hinata and Sakura were usually the ones with nightmares, so they usually were the ones he allowed. But Chouji and Shino were rather susceptive to Kiba and Ino's wicked minds, so he allowed them in as well.

The man suppressed the loud yawn he wanted to make when he began to stretch, then looked down at the children around him.

He'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't have to suppress a stupid smile as well.

The kids were adorable when they slept. Especially these four.

Genma didn't play favorites. He tried to give all of the kids the same amount of attention and love. He didn't really remember what it felt like to fight with his sisters for his parents attention. And he didn't know with certainty if that could be applied to the situation he was in now. But he knew that when kids had an adult figure they trusted, they wanted to be praised and loved. So he tried his best to make sure all of the kids knew when they did well and when they were being stupid. With finer words, of course.

These four were the ones that barely ever caused any trouble. They were quiet yet had a sense of wonder Genma just couldn't understand. He'd been forced to grow up rather quickly, but he remembered a bit of his childhood innocence. And it was nothing when compared to what these kids had.

Out of all of them, though, Shino was the cutest when it came to said innate affinity for awe. He was an Aburame. And Genma had sworn that all Aburame were born as boring as they are when adults. Shino, though, was anything but boring. And his reactions to anything that surprised or amazed him... He was the only Aburame he'd ever seen show so many emotions, if Genma could tell the truth. Of course, he was quiet and kind of socially awkward. But he got along pretty well with all of the children, even with those small quirks. Genma guessed it was because of that brother he'd never gotten around to meeting.

As he allowed a small stupid smile to form on his lips, Genma heard a soft knock on his door. The kids all stirred slightly, but soon drifted back into their sleep and curled up closer at the loss of the warmth of his body.

He jumped out of his bed as agilely and quietly as he could. And from the way none of the kids stirred this time around, Genma chalked up his somewhat rusty skills as less rusty than he'd thought. Then he moved towards his door and opened it, expecting either Itachi or Hana waiting for him.

He'd come to learn that Hana was as respectful as Itachi. Iwashi, though, was a pretty rude little shit that burst into his room whenever with the excuse of having known Genma for years now.

But it was neither of the older kids. Instead it was a member of the ANBU corps. A large man with muscle protruding at every point and a mask with what seemed like a snarling bear covering his face.

Immediately Genma frowned. But he soon questioned, "Yes?"

Having an ANBU show up at one's door was never a good sign. Especially so early on what was supposed to be a simple morning.

"The Hokage wishes to speak with you." The man answered gruffly, " _Urgently_."

Genma looked at him in surprise and worry. Then he looked back at all of the kids on his bed and frowned softly. "I can't leave these kids alone."

"I'll stay with them."

Genma didn't feel right about any of this. For a member of ANBU to stay with the children...

"Those are my orders." The man grunted, looking at the children staying inside of the room Genma had just come out of. "But your orders are to leave as soon as possible. The meeting with the Hokage is pressing."

The senbon enthusiast looked at the masked man for a moment, caught between arguing with him, but soon sighed and nodded softly. He hadn't found himself having to go to the Hokage a lot in the past few years because of his status as a caretaker. But that didn't mean he had forgotten the chain of command. And when a member of the ANBU Black Ops ordered someone to do something, it was best to not argue.

"They're usually pretty well behaved. But if they begin to try and fight you or something, just ask Itachi Uchiha to help you out." Genma informed the man as he stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind him, then began to walk over to his kitchen. "Kiba and Naruto are the boys that will try to fight you. But if you distract them with some kind of game, you should be fine."

He didn't know exactly why he was telling this to the ANBU, but he felt the need to at least give him some help. He knew how difficult the kids could be. And how overwhelming their numbers could become. So even though he knew that this man was, without a doubt, battle hardened and used to coming across difficulties, he felt like he should help him out a little bit.

The man began a pot of coffee, not even noticing he was making for more than just himself, then opened his kitchen cabinets to grab a pack of cookies for a quick breakfast.

"Ino and Tenten are the girls that will most probably give you the most grief. But as long as you don't let Kiba or Naruto gang up on them, they won't see you as another stupid man and will at least respect you. Hinata and Sakura will both be terrified of your mask. I'm just warning you right now." Genma wanted the man to be prepared for the kids' oddest quirks, "Chouji will be too, now that I think about it... Shino and Shikamaru won't trust you at first, though."

As he spoke, the smell of freshly brewed coffee began to waft from the coffee maker. He didn't turn once to face the ANBU member behind him because he knew he was being listened to by him. And he grabbed a mug from the cabinets by the refrigerator before opening the door to grab the container of milk from inside.

"Itachi stayed the night, just like Iwashi Tatami. They both know this place like the back of their hands, so if you run into any problems, ask them to help you out. They're both respectful and understand the shinobi chain of command." The man poured some milk into his mug before placing it inside of the microwave to heat up, then returned the milk to its place. "And if at any point the kids become too much, you can return them to their respective parents. They won't question much once you tell them I had to go meet with the Hokage."

A few seconds of silence passed between them as the noise of the microwave heating and liquid pouring filled the kitchen. But soon the ANBU cleared his throat and Genma turned to him, finding him with his large arms crossed over his chest.

"I believe I am capable of taking care of some kids."

Genma couldn't help the knowing smirk that appeared on his lips at that point. There was no doubt in his mind that this man was a more than capable shinobi in the battlefield. But this was another kind of field altogether.

"I've heard those same words from mighty men." Genma smiled broadly, shaking his head softly. "But you don't really see Kakashi sticking his neck out to care of these kids when I'm not around. And Raidou refuses to have the kids around him as long as there's any kind of sugary substance around."

The ANBU's shoulders tensed minutely, clearly trying to seem more sure of himself than he actually was, but Genma decided to cut him some slack.

"Maybe you'll be the second to tame these wild demons."

* * *

When he walked into the Hokage's office, Genma didn't know what to expect. He had no idea if he was going to get scolded or even demoted because of his less than stellar record from the past years.

Even though he could go on missions, he was barely sent on them. He'd told Shikaku on more than one occasion that he was still capable of going out of the village on long missions, but he was always passed over when it came to those. And seeing how he was always tired because of the eleven demon children he took care of, he didn't really spend too much time getting annoyed by this.

Although it would really suck if he was told he was going to be put on probation for not being able to accomplish any of his shinobi duties. Because that would just be a bunch of bull.

"You wished to see me, Lord Hokage?" Genma bowed respectfully once he stood in front of the older man's desk, then looked up to see the man looking at him with a quizzical eye.

"I did." The man muttered after a few seconds of looking Genma over, then allowed a loose smile to take over his lips. "Tell me, Genma, how have you been? It has been some time since we last spoke?"

After the Fourth's death, the Third had made sure to keep constant contact with those that had been closest to him. And Genma had even managed to weasel his way onto incredibly difficult missions to take his mind off of his failures because of this. But ever since he started to take care of the kids, he had not had much of a reason to speak to the man before him. Except for that one time he had ended up having to explain why Iwashi had never gone to his shift at the village gates.

"I have been well." Genma swallowed through the lump in his throat, suddenly feeling like a kid that had gotten caught with his hands in the cookie jar. And he was very sure of how that felt like because of all the times he had caught one of the kids in that very position.

"Those kids you take care of... How are they?"

While Minato had been a straightforward, blunt, and sometimes oblivious man, the Third Hokage had been his extreme opposite. He enjoyed being mysterious and confusing. And he loved to weave perplexity with an affinity for edging his way towards a single goal, rather than going straight for it.

What he was playing at, Genma was not sure. And he didn't really know how to feel about that.

"They are well, Lord Third." Genma answered with a bite at his senbon, then moved to place his hands on both his hips. "I don't mean to be disrespectful, sir... But, would you mind getting to the point? I just left eleven demon children and two kids on the cusp of becoming demons with an ANBU member they've never met before. And I'm kind of worried of getting back and finding they've burned my apartment to the ground."

Before, he would have been even more blunt with his words. A bit more rude, too. But he didn't really feel like ending up on crappy D-Ranks because of disrespecting the man.

"Words I never thought I would hear coming from you." The Third commented with amusement, then reached into his desk to pull out his pipe. "Alright, you wish for me to get to the point? Naruto is nearing the age in which he'll finally join the Academy. And as I am sure you know, not many of our Academy teachers are eager to have him as part of their group."

Genma winced just slightly at the mention of the blonde haired boy, but soon sighed and nodded. It was no secret that even though the kids he took care of had taken to Naruto with barely any difficulty, the almost unanimous decision around the village was to keep as far away from them as possible. It was how most civilians felt. How most _shinobi_ felt.

It wasn't farfetched to come to expect that none of the Academy teachers wished to take the young boy on.

"They are worried about discord among the students. They do not wish to have him in a group where he will be at constant odds." The Hokage explained, "And I do not wish for Naruto to find himself in a toxic environment formed by his fellow students."

Quite frankly, Genma never would have thought he would ever find himself in this position. He didn't even have a girlfriend, yet he was constantly feeling like an overwhelmed and overworked parent.

He blamed Neji for all of this...

Sighing softly, Genma shrugged softly before scratching at the back of his neck. "Naruto has friends, you know. Most of them his own age. You could always just put them all in the same group. It may seem like a show of favoritism towards the kid, but what's the opinion of the public matter when a kid's safety is in jeopardy? If Naruto's got his friends with him, he won't cause any trouble."

Naruto had found himself with a reputation as a troublemaker and overall bad child even though he had grown out of the horrible stage Genma had dubbed 'Terrible Threes' quite some time ago. He'd straightened up with the parental influence the parents of his friends had brought in. And being able to flee to his apartment whenever he wanted to had helped make him feel like he wasn't unsafe at all times.

"Not many parents will like the idea that their children will be in the same class as Naruto."

"And you think that matters?" Genma shook his head in exasperation, "I've ended up having to deal with a lot of shit the past year because of what's in the best interest of others in the village. And I've grown somewhat immune to caring about what others think."

This village cared so much about keeping those with money and power pleased that they forgot that these children were its future. It was a good thing he was around to not give any shits about what others wanted to knock sense into them.

"Naruto wants to become a ninja. And there is just about nothing in this world that will knock that idea out of him." Genma continued, taking note of the way the Hokage's face lost all hints of amusement and became completely serious. "He will need to go to the Academy to learn what he needs to know. You're aware of that. Or else he may just do something drastic to learn."

Naruto had never flat out told him, but Genma knew the boy was capable of seeking out a teacher that would teach him what he needed to know to become a shinobi. And there was no telling what he might do to get a teacher.

"Listen, you have to find a new Academy teacher. Someone that is fresh and green." Genma told the older man with a sudden weight on his shoulders. "And you have to make sure to tell them that there's no way they can get out of teaching Naruto. They're in it for the long run."

The Hokage looked at him through thoughtful eyes, then placed his unlit pipe down on his desk. "And how do you propose I do that, Genma? Not many would jump at the chance to teach him. You are more than aware of the feelings surrounding the child."

"I am. And that's why you pick the teacher you think will be the most fair, stern, and understanding." Genma told the man with complete seriousness, crossing his arms over his chest. "I am sure that you know someone that fits the bill. If you didn't, you wouldn't be having this conversation with me right now. Instead you'd be telling me that Naruto would not be joining his friends in the Academy."

A small smirk played on the man's lips, then shrugged his shoulders slightly before leaning back on his chair. "You have changed quite a lot recently, Genma. Your parents would be proud of the man you have become."

It both surprised and hurt Genma to hear the man say this. But he composed himself as best he could then nodded at him. "Thank you, sir."

The man smiled softly and nodded, then began to fill his pipe. "I am sorry for having woken you so early for this meeting. But seeing how the Academy is set to begin the new school year in just a month, I wished to make sure that my choice for a teacher was the correct one." Then he cocked his head to the side slightly, eyes flashing before speaking up once more. "You will not mind it being a young teacher? He is sixteen."

Genma had said it would be best for the teacher to be a new one. But he hadn't expected this person to be so young. He was Iwashi's age!

But… Naruto listened to Iwashi, Itachi, and Hana. And if Genma made sure to tell the kid that he had to listen to him without any kind of fighting, then he was sure the new teacher wouldn't have too much trouble. He'd just have to make sure that if any problems arose, they didn't come from Naruto's end.

"And…" Genma swallowed somewhat uncomfortably, feeling suddenly unsure of the course Naruto's life would be taking now. "You're sure that this kid is the best choice?"

"Until further notice, it's the _only_ choice."

The gravity of the situation was not lost on Genma. But he knew there wasn't much he could do about Naruto's current situation. Even though he took care of the kid, he had not gone a step farther than the rest of the kids. They were all on a level playing field with him. Clan children or orphans, he treated them all the same.

... Raidou had, at one point, asked when he would finally get around to signing the adoption forms for them all. And even though it had been a joke, it had struck a chord within Genma.

Adoption.

It was a pretty serious word in his mind. His sisters and him had been allowed to live together after his parents death because his older sister was competent enough to stay with them. But they had left when he became a genin, an adult under the eyes of the law.

"I trust in your judgement, Lord Third." Genma bowed once more, shoving all thoughts that dealt with adoption to the back of his mind. "May I take my leave now?"

The man spent some time looking Genma over. But eventually he lit his pipe, puffed out a cloud of smoke, and nodded. "We wouldn't want you to return to a home that is just ashes. Have a good day, Shiranui."

"You too, sir."

And with that Genma walked out of the office and made his way back to his apartment, hoping that the children would not, as he had joked, actually burned his apartment down. Because even though they were usually well behaved, he had no idea how they would take to someone like an ANBU being there, even though Genma wasn't.

* * *

Bear somehow became part of the kids 'Favorite Adults' list. Genma wasn't sure if it was because of the mask and the challenge it proved to be to take off (just like Kakashi's, the kids seemed to have an innate need within them to take it off and find out what was underneath) or because the man treated them like little soldiers instead of children. But the kids always asked for Bear and if he would ever appear ever again. And after a while of the kids trying to run away to chase after the ANBU to see if they could find him, Genma finally relented and sent Kakashi to fetch the man.

They didn't know who he truly was. Which was no shock, seeing how he was _ANBU_. But he was a gentle soul that played tea party with Hinata and Sakura with one hand, all the while being able to play sword fighting against Kiba, Naruto, and Sasuke at the same time with the other.

One time, Inoichi came in with Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Tenten, bearing pies from Chouji's parents with a broad smile on his face. And when he found the ANBU with Sasuke holding onto his neck as the man followed after Sakura, who wanted to play tea with Hinata and Bear, the blonde's face had been worth a million dollars.

Genma's only regret had been not having a camera for that amazing face.

"You have _ANBU_ under your thumbs, too?" Inoichi had gasped out, turning to look at Genma with complete shock.

But, Genma had known there must have been more for that priceless reaction. If it had been any other ANBU, Inoichi would have been shocked, yes. But he wouldn't have looked so comedic. This must have been someone the man knew outside of the uniform. Someone that must have been the least likely to play with children if Inoichi was so shocked.

"The kids have a way with adults." Genma shrugged softly, then looked at Bear. "You going to stick around for the pies?"

The masked man had remained frozen for a few seconds before the kids that had come with Inoichi ran to him, begging him to stay a while longer before leaving. So the man had agreed. All because the kids were much too adorable when they actually used the word 'please'.

* * *

The summer went by too fast for the kids liking. Even though they were excited about going to the Academy, they also wanted to stay with Genma. They weren't crazy about not being able to spend their whole lives with the man like they had become accustomed to. And they had thrown quite a tantrum one night when the parents had told them they would not be able to stay overnight at Genma's apartment every single night.

It hurt to see them so distraught by the changes that would be coming into their lives. But Genma knew for a fact that the kids needed to get used to it. Even though they were still young, they were going to learn to be shinobi. And there wasn't such a thing as commodity when one was a ninja. They needed to learn from a young age that, even though they were kind of spoiled, they needed to get used to not always being comfortable or getting what they wanted.

"But I want to stay with Genma! He would always walk _Tenten and Neji_ to the Academy!"

Tsume growled as her son scratched at her arms, keeping him tightly gripped in her hands, but far enough to get at her face. "That was because he still needed to care for the rest of you mutts!"

"But... But... I want Genma to walk me to school tomorrow..."

"I do, too, Chouji."

Shikamaru and Chouji were the least loud of the children. They just stood in the middle of all of the chaos, looking desolate and saddened as they spoke to one another. But the rest of the demons... They were making their discontent more than clear.

"Please, mom! I don't want to go! I want Farmer man to walk me to school! I want to stay with Gen-Gen!" Sakura pleaded, standing rooted to her spot while her mother tried and failed to pull her out of Genma's apartment. "I want Gen-Gen!"

"Sakura, honey..."

"You can't make me! Shino, quick! Throw your ants at our parents!"

"Ino!"

"Shino, don't you dare!"

But the young Aburame's hand was raised, a large jar of ants gripped tightly while his whole body stood tensed. Shibi held his hand out in a sign to stop his son, but the young boy was just glaring at him.

"Allow us to stay." Shino's voice was deathly serious, something that shouldn't be possible with him only being _six_. "We want to stay with Farmer man!"

Genma knew how dangerous Shino's threat truly was. Those ants had been let loos in his apartment at least once before when the kids had tried to catch Kakashi by surprise. And it had been hell to round them up without accidentally killing any of them. Especially because none of the Aburame Clan had helped, seeing how they had deemed the chance of cleaning the ants up as a punishment for the kids having used them as such unconventional weapons in the first place.

"N-Nej-ji-n-ni-ni-n-ni-saaan!"

Hinata was a blubbering mess hugging her cousin tightly, all the while Neji tried to comfort her. Hiashi, though, was not being allowed to get close to either of them. Seeing how Tenten had managed to get into his weapons cabinet again- he really needed to hide those things better now-, the girl was threatening with bodily harm if anyone got too close to either Hyuga. Her mother was beside Hiashi, trying to make her see reason, but Tenten just glared at her and lashed out with her kunai.

Genma had never seen the kids so distraught. He'd seen them throw quite a bit of tantrums and stand up to their parents like a pack of rabid demons. But he'd never seen them fighting so much to keep change from taking place.

And he didn't know why, but it hurt _a lot_ to see that the majority of them had tears streaking down their cheeks.

"Naruto, there's no reason for you to be fighting."

The senbon enthusiast looked away from the louder commotions to look over at the doorway into his kitchen, where Naruto stood with a glare on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. Bear was kneeling beside him, a hand on the boy's shoulder, looking every bit like a person that cared even though this was the 'demon brat'.

Bear had been a good addition to their ranks simply because he talked to Naruto as if he were another child. He was kind of like Kakashi in that respect. Just less perverted, infuriating, and likely to disappear simply because he didn't want to eat the food Genma prepared for all of them.

"But I don't want my friends to go."

"You'll see them again tomorrow. They are still going to go to school with you." Bear replied softly, which made the young blonde sniffle and shake his head.

"But they won't be around as much anymore... I don't want my friends to go..."

Genma couldn't believe the amount of resistance the children were putting up. But from the way Inoichi, Shikaku, and Kakashi stood off to the side, Genma could tell that _they_ , at least, weren't all that surprised with what was happening.

"Sasuke, please don't try to stab me."

"Let me go, brother! I want Genma!"

Taking in a deep breath, Genma closed his eyes and steeled himself. He didn't want his apartment to suffer any further damages from the children's resistance. Nor did he want to continue seeing them crying.

He knew he was going to regret this later on. But at the moment, it was the only way to diffuse the situation.

"I'll walk you all to school tomorrow. But you have to go with your parents to pick up your clothes so you have something to wear tomorrow morning and to go to bed."

For a second, everything froze. All of the adults and Itachi turned to look at him with varying degrees of shock clear on their faces. The cacophony that had taken over his home ceased, leaving nothing but a sudden peace. Then that was all destroyed when Kiba whooped proudly, jumping out of his mother's arms to run to Genma and glue himself to the man's legs.

One by one the children ran to him and hugged him tightly. Then they forced him to _promise_ that this wasn't some kind of trick and he really would let them stay the night before their first day of school. Of course, Genma did so. He wasn't about to trick the kids into leaving his apartment. That just wasn't right.

It took a little while. But eventually the kids all left with their respective caretaker to go to their homes, pack everything they would need for the night and following day, and Genma was left with only Kakashi in his home. Bear had gone off with Naruto to the orphanage to get the things the blonde would need.

For a moment, Genma took in the battle scarred apartment. There were weapons thrown all around, courtesy of Neji and Tenten, along with toys, jars, plates, and just about anything the kids had gotten their hands on to fight off their parents. Shino's jar of ants lay pristinely on his kitchen counter, the only thing that still stood straight after the kids had thrown their united tantrum.

He'd have to scold them all on it. He allowed a lot of things to slide usually. But this time they had toed over the line of going _too far_. And to make sure that they never did, he'd have to let them know they couldn't always get what they wanted.

He'd only allow it this _once_ because it was the night before their first day at the Academy. But this would be the _only_ time he'd allow this.

"You know... In the future, when they're all shinobi and great fighters, I don't think you'll have to worry about ever getting killed in the battle field."

Moving so he could grab a senbon that had been embedded into his bookcase, Genma plopped the metallic weapon into his mouth, bit it twice, then turned to Kakashi. "What are you raving on about now, Scarecrow?"

The man still stood comfortably by the hallway, eye focused on the book in his hands. But he soon looked up, eye squinting in a smile, "You've got yourself the equivalent of a small army at your disposal. If you train them right, you'd be unstoppable."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Genma sighed and shook his head. "This won't happen again. They're going to begin their lives as shinobi. And soon enough, they'll forget all about Farmer man and Scarecrow." He waved his hand dismissively as he walked towards his kitchen, deciding to begin to make food before the hellions returned again. "That's why I don't fret too much."

He swore he heard Kakashi grunt amusedly at that. But the younger man didn't say anything after, remaining quiet as he continued to read.

Genma knew for a fact that he was just a passing fancy in the kids lives. Soon enough they would be forging their own paths in the world and wouldn't need him around anymore. And he was prepared for that. If anything, he yearned for it. He hadn't gone on a good mission in two years now. He would just be a faint memory in the kids lives once they were respected and capable shinobi and he was still working at whatever mission came his way.

Although he'd never admit it to himself, there was a pang in his chest when he thought about the kids in the future. He could see them all grown up, laughing and having great fun with one another, all the while still being professional in their line of work.

It was quite the sight. Although he could die without seeing it, knowing he wasn't all that important in their lives.

(He couldn't. He would much rather live to see the day the kids earned their hitai-ite and the day they became chunin. But Genma didn't fool himself. He didn't know if he'd be alive for one more day, one more year, or _ten_ more years. Nothing was certain. And he could die happily knowing that, even though he still had quite a few regrets, he'd done the best he could with the cards he had been given.)

(Genma had no idea about this, but the kids really _would_ become his small army.)

* * *

"I'm Genma Shiranui."

"Iruka Umino I'll be... Uh... Which one is _your_ child?"

Genma smirked slightly at the teenager as he looked down at the nine munchkins he'd brought to his homeroom, then looked over the room. It was a standard classroom without any personal touches just yet. But this was a new teacher, which led Genma to believe that he had yet to be able to even decide on what he wanted his classroom to look like.

"He's got an awesome scar! Just like Rai!" Ino marveled at the horizontal scar that crossed over the tanned teenager's nose, then she tugged at Genma's pant leg. "Are we ever going to go ahead with the 'Awesome Facial Scar Club'? Because there are already two guys that can be members!"

"Ino, please." Genma shook his head with an exasperated sigh, then smiled softly at the pony tailed teenager. "I'm sorry about that. Ino can be somewhat... _Blunt_."

A side effect from hanging around Tenten too often.

"We're _all_ his children, Pineapple-Sensei!" Kiba smiled broadly up at his new teacher, even though Genma immediately felt a shock of worry and disdain go through him.

"His name is _Iruka-Sensei_." Genma growled softly, then flicked the boy's ear slightly. Kiba shouted out dramatically at the hit, but soon shook his head, smiled broadly, and pointed over at the circular tables with five chairs each. "I call a table with Naruto and Sasuke!"

Naruto smiled broadly and grabbed his friend's hand, then Sasuke's, shouting out that they would get the best table in the whole place. Genma just let them go off with a soft shake of his head, then looked back at Iruka, took in the confused and taken aback look, and decided to explain himself before the younger male regretted having become a teacher.

"None of these are my kids, Iruka-Sensei." He began, only to have Ino tug at his pant leg and glare up at him. "Of course we're your kids!"

He wasn't surprised to hear her say this. But the man, instead of trying to make her see reason, merely smiled softly and motioned for the table the three boys had called their own. "Why don't you six go ahead and pick out the table you want? So you're able to sit together for the rest of the semester?"

Hinata gasped at his words for some reason, then Ino nodded, grabbed both her and Sakura's hands, then began to drag them over to the table beside the one the three other boys had deemed as their own. Shino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were left fidgeting slightly before Iruka smiled down at the three of them.

"Those are all your friends?" He asked in a tone that sounded both caring yet stern, "Which one of you is the calmest? I believe it would be a good idea for you to sit with those three boys so they can help me keep them calm during class."

The three boys looked up at him for a second before Chouji muttered, "Shika and I are both good when it comes to keeping Kiba and Naruto calm..."

"But that'll be so troublesome to do every single day..." Shikamaru groaned, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Shino didn't say a thing. He just made his way over to the girls' table, apparently having decided that he didn't want to deal with three hyperactive boys for the rest of his semester.

Shikamaru groaned once more when Shino sat, but soon rolled his eyes and begrudgingly made his way towards the three other boys. And once all nine kids were seated, Iruka turned back to Genma.

"I'm kind of their babysitter." The man explained, shrugging softly. "The kids aren't mine, biologically speaking. But I'll most probably be the person you'll be seeing the most of when it comes to meetings, conferences, and whatnot."

Genma had come to the conclusion that Hiashi would do the same thing he'd done with Neji for Hinata. And there was no doubt in his mind that, if someone like _Hiashi_ sent him in for his kids, then the rest of the parents would do the same. It was a given when it came to all of them.

Although now that the kids would be spending the great majority of their days at the Academy, Genma could actually go on more missions and earn more money and not have to continue accepting the kids 'gifts' whenever they were given their allowance money.

"For all nine of them?" Iruka was surprised by this, but seemed to be taking it in strides. He had yet to run off, after all. "Wait, you expect there to be parent-teacher conferences?"

Smiling with a nod, Genma looked at the kids, noticed the way the girls and Shino were pulling out their notebooks and pencils, even though the other five were laughing and telling jokes, then turned back to Iruka. "Please. I _know_ there'll be meetings. But you seem like you've got a good head on your shoulders. And as long as we're able to keep a respectful and professional atmosphere, we should be fine."

The teenager blinked up at him before giving a stiff nod, then turned around to greet another parent as they walked into the room.

Genma decided that this was his time to take his leave, so he began to walk towards the door. But when he was there, he stopped and looked back at the smiling children.

They were together. They would be fine. There was nothing to worry about it.

... Hopefully...

* * *

For the first time in three years, Genma had _nothing_ to do.

The Hokage hadn't given him a mission, even though the kids had been going to the Academy for more than a week now. And the kids weren't around to try and round up.

For the first time in three years, Genma felt like he wasn't doing anything _productive._

Sure, he trained, strengthened his body for when a real mission came, and stocked up on his weapons. But there was only so much preparations one could do before they were more than ready for a mission.

He just stayed in his apartment, fidgeting around with his body. He'd cleaned his apartment about ten different times since the kids had entered the Academy. And he'd moved his furniture around to different positions about twenty times before he'd gotten it to look the way he wanted... Until he ended up deciding to change it once more when the boredom became too much again.

He had not noticed just how abundant the kids had become in his life until he was home alone and bored out of his mind.

... Was this the reason why some housewives ended up cheating on their husbands? Because they were used to having people around, but when there weren't, they grew bored?

The thing was, he _knew_ he had other things he could do. He could seek out his friends, strong arm the Hokage into giving him a good mission, or even head out to try and find the romantic companionship the kids wanted him to get. But he just _didn't want to_. It was really weird, if he could tell the truth.

The seconds were ticking by in a insanity inducing, sluggish pace. The last time he had looked at the clock at his kitchen was what felt like an hour ago... But was really only _half a minute_.

He was going to go insane in his home.

The kids still came around, though. So he made dinner for them before sending them off to their respective homes. He was pretty sure that they would eventually stop coming around as they continued with their lives, though... So he couldn't count on them to break the haze that his life had become.

With a glare and sneer at the much too loud ticking coming from the taunting clock, Genma jumped up from the couch and began to make his way towards the kitchen.

It was only the afternoon. But the kids were supposed to arrive in a good three hours. And he should begin making their food now.

Not like he had anything better to do, after all.

But just when his feet were about to cross the threshold into his kitchen, he heard his door open. The chakra signature was familiar, and from the way no traps were set off, Genma guessed it must have been one of the parents. And when he looked over at his door, he found Inoichi smiling softly at him with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Shiranui! Good to see you're still alive!"

There was a mischievous glint in those blue eyes. And it was almost terrifying how similar Inoichi and Ino could be when being sneaky.

"Inoichi. What are you doing here?" Genma questioned as he changed course and headed towards the older male, somewhat confused by his sudden appearance.

He hadn't done anything to warrant any kind of visit from the parents... And from what he knew, the kids had yet to get into trouble at the Academy. They were all actually behaving.

"I've come to offer you a job." Inoichi answered, which immediately made Genma wince slightly.

Again? He'd already told Inoichi he wasn't all that interested in joining T&I. He knew he had the skills to be a Tokubetsu Jounin. But he was kind of okay just being a chunin, like Iwashi. Raidou had already made the jump and insisted that Genma and Iwashi should get their lives together again.

"Listen, Inoichi, I'm flattered, but-"

"Nonsense." Inoichi interrupted, then patted Genma's shoulders, "Genma, all you do know is hang around your apartment and do nothing. You're like a bored housecat that can only swat at the occasional fly!"

Out of all of the parents, Inoichi was the most okay with physical contact. Genma had been forced to learn that this was just his way of being and _not_ get too annoyed with him.

But he seriously did not like being shaken like some kind of cocktail shaker.

"Wait," The senbon enthusiast's eyes narrowed, a frown coming onto his lips. "How do you know that?"

But Inoichi didn't seem affected at all by Genma's distrust. He just continued smiling broadly. "I'm a ninja! And Head of T&I!" The blonde was clearly proud of his accomplishments, which Genma couldn't disagree with. But he was so cheery... It made no sense sometimes. "Now come and work for me. You have all of the skills to be great at information gathering and the level head to keep from doing more harm than good on suspects. You'd really be an invaluable asset."

By the end of his words, his tone had sobered and become more serious. But there was still a light smile on his lips.

Inoichi had offered him this same job a few years ago after the Nine Tails' attack. And Genma had refused it simply because of pride. This time around, though... Well, his moments of stupidity spurred on by pride were much less...

If he accepted this job, he'd have a steady income. And he wouldn't have to worry about the kids revolting over him leaving for too much time because he'd be in the village doing his job. And what would be so bad about getting a slight promotion? More money meant less worry about life and the kids getting what they wanted and needed.

And after having spent five days bored out of his mind and having been just an inch from _murdering his wall clock_ , Genma guessed accepting the job wouldn't be the worst thing to do. And it wasn't as if working would be all that bad either. It would keep him occupied and an excuse to not ask the Hokage to go on long and hard missions.

Was there really a reason to _not_ accept the job?

Sighing softly, Genma relented. "Just don't expect me to wear that stupid uniform."

"It's great to have you on board, Genma!" Inoichi suddenly wrapped his arms around the younger male and hugged him tightly, then let him go, smile still present on his face. "Let's go! I want you to meet the rest of the crew before the day ends!"

* * *

Genma knew most of the people that worked at T&I from before. Anko was still insane as ever, Tonbo was still sarcastic and aloof, and Shimon was still pretty funny.

There were undeniable similarities between Ibiki Morino, the quiet man that kept to himself even when the rest of the members of T&I got together to have fun, and the ANBU Bear.

But when Genma noticed it, he decided to keep quiet about it. There was a reason why ANBU kept their identities secret. And as long as Bear continued to appear sporadically to make the kids cheer and learn, Genma had no reason to flat out ask him.

* * *

"You kids..."

"We want to go with you to T&I!"

Genma was tired. And he was being called in by Inoichi to try and help out with a hotheaded suspect. Ibiki was off on a classified mission and the rest of the members of T&I had been deemed as completely counterproductive for the nin from Iwa.

It was a Friday afternoon. The kids had come in asking for fun and to sleepover. But Genma was so tired...

He could either fight against them... Or just let them come along...

"Just don't break anything. And you're going to stay with whoever I leave you, understood?"

All eleven children began to cheer as soon as they heard that. And Genma, even as his body felt as heavy as lead, couldn't help the small smile that came onto his face as he ushered them out of his apartment.

..~..~..

It has taken me a bit of a while... But I've managed to update again!

Tell me what you think in a review! They keep me going even when university tries to bring me down!


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter 9: How the Children Wound Up Making Even More New Friends and Began to Plot:_ In retrospect, maybe taking the kids to his work hadn't been his smartest idea. They met at least three new people they deemed interesting. Two of whom they weaseled into Genma's life... Something that was completely natural for them, at this point. They also began some rather important plans (of which Genma knew almost nothing about) while learning important lessons along the way.

..~..~..

When they passed through the large doors that led into the TI Building, Genma could feel all eyes turn to him. Which didn't really surprise him, considering how it seemed that, even after taking care of these eleven kids for at least three years, people were still taken aback by the sight of him with tykes surrounding him.

"Oh my God! Genma has a midget army! No fair! _I_ made the plans for one! I even have the uniforms I want them to wear!"

The shout that came from the bubbly woman merely made the senbon enthusiast roll his eyes, although his grip on Hinata and Sakura's hands tightened just marginally.

He knew he could trust his comrades. But Anko was kind of insane and the girls were highly susceptible to people with interesting personalities. And they had yet to meet a kunoichi that was as present in their lives as most of Genma's other friends... Who knew what Anko could do if she got her claws into the bright and doe eyed young girls?

He did _not_ want four little Ankos running around.

"Tonbo! Shimon!"

Both males were lounging around by the front desk and perked up when they heard Genma call on them. "Three free rounds for the guy that can keep Anko as far away from the kids as possible."

Tonbo was usually a man that didn't like funny business. Shimon didn't mind it, but didn't seek it out either. But at the promise of free drinks, especially _three rounds_ without any kind of limitation (because they knew by now that when Genma said something like this, he spared no expenses), both men immediately looked interested.

Anko glared dangerously at Genma as she froze in her advance, then turned to scowl at both mentioned men.

"Don't you bastards _dare_."

Anko was one of the most dangerous women Genma had ever met in his life. And she was also pretty freaking insane. Having been that traitor, Orochimaru's student had left her with all kinds of problems. But she was also one of Konoha's most capable kunoichi and one hell of an ally to have.

So she was a really great fighter to have around... Even though she was bat shit insane.

"Alright, Shimon. You go low, I'll go high." Tonbo smirked, the upturn to corner of his lips making the bandages over his eye crinkle softly, all the while the dark haired Shimon gave a stiff nod.

"And if it's needed, you _are_ allowed to go into her mind!" Genma added, which made Anko turn one final glare at him before looking back at Shimon and Tonbo, whom prepared themselves to run after her.

For a moment, everything was still as both men analyzed the woman that was now their target. Then Anko decided that, even though she was awesome, she couldn't deal with those two without some kind of upper hand on them, so she quickly stuck her hands into her pockets, grabbed something from inside, and hurriedly threw it at the men, all the while screaming "Smoke bomb!"

What she had thrown had not been smoke bombs. But both men ducked away, worried about ending up inhaling poisoned fumes because of the crazed Anko. She was known for lacing some kind of poison into her smoke bombs, after all.

But Genma couldn't help the boisterous laughter he let loose.

Anko stood blinking in complete shock at what she had thrown, all the while Tonbo and Shimon slowly straightened themselves up, blinking at the fact that they were able to _see._

"Oh man!" The woman shouted out as she pouted and stomped one foot, "I was planning on eating those!"

Dango. The woman had thrown _dango_ at Tonbo and Shimon instead of smoke bombs.

And this was the woman Genma had previously been praising for being a worthy adversary?

"That was a gross misuse of dango, Mitarashi." Shimon tutted as he shook his head softly, then smirked at the woman and steeled his body once more. "But it only helps us get our drinks!"

"Caramel red apple pie!" The woman squeaked as she quickly turned on her heels, then took off running, Tonbo and Shimon following closely after her.

Genma watched them go with a satisfied smirk in place. Then, when he felt a tug at his pants, he looked down at the children around him and squeezed both Hinata and Sakura's hands.

"That woman is dangerous. And she eats little kids. You stay away from her."

~/~

There hadn't been too many trustworthy people with which Genma could leave the kids while he conducted the interrogation. Tonbo and Shimon had both been at the top of his list of people he could trust, but he'd sent them off to chase after Anko to make sure that none of his kids were corrupted by the snake mistress.

He had thought that, hopefully, Mawashi would be around. He was used to Ino because of her father and was level headed enough to take care of a bunch of kids. But, apparently, he was sick with the flu and had not been able to go into work. Which, when he thought about it, made sense. When conducting a difficult interrogation, Inoichi would usually call on either Ibiki or Mawashi. It made much more sense for Genma to be brought in if Inoichi's usual choices weren't available.

Shinobu Mubi was busy with paperwork. The thirteen year old chunin, Mozuku, was way too young. Maen Nara was sleeping on the job and would get his ass handed to him by the kids in no time. The rather old to be a ninja Furofuki terrified the kids, even though she was only around to keep the prisoner alive. Fuki Hōki was just as dangerous as Anko. And her twin sister, Suiren, was so boring Genma knew the kids would revolt if left with her.

There were other people that worked in TI, of course. But Genma didn't think they were rather trustworthy.

Genma had been about to call it a day and tell Inoichi he'd need to find somebody else to go through with the interrogation when two teenagers, one with spiky black hair that seemed to be untamable and the other with dark brown hair that covered one eye, decided to make themselves known.

"Oh, come on, Izumo! We've already been here for six months! I think our position is stable." The one with the spiky hair had his arms crossed behind his head in apparent ease, even though his friend was walking with his body tensed, eyes shifting with distrusting over the hallway they were walking down.

"Lord Yamanaka could still demote us, Kotetsu! We're supposed to be filing away that paperwork."

Genma couldn't help but smirk at the sight of both teenagers. They had just made his life rather simple.

"Hey, you two!" He called out to the two as he stepped into the hallway, all the while the rest of the kids looked at him from their spot inside of the break lounge. "Guppies! I'm talking to you!"

Both males froze instantly. And Genma had to stop himself from snickering when the one called Izumo smacked his friend harshly over the head before they both turned to him.

"I've got an assignment for you two that you better not screw up. _Unlike your paperwork_."

Both teenagers paled considerably at his words. And now Genma couldn't help the twitch at the corner of his lips, then allowed a loose smirk to take over his face.

"You know Lord Yamanaka's daughter, Ino, right?" He questioned, which immediately had them nodding. "Good. Get your asses over here so you can take care of her and her friends."

The one with the spiky hair seemed to want to protest. But before he could even open his mouth, Izumo's elbow drove into his ribs, successfully stopping any kind of argument the male could bring up.

"These kids are all important and have to be treated with respect. You're going to treat them like treasures, you hear? If not, you'll have more than just me or Lord Yamanaka to answer to."

He had not had the pleasure to mess with peoples' minds in this manner for a long time... He kind of missed it.

"They have yet to eat dinner and don't like to be kept hungry. And the Inuzuka is not afraid of biting peoples' arms to get what he wants."

And that was the last thing he told the teenagers before he shunshined away from them, pretty sure that those rookies were so green they'd be to terrified of angering their boss to do anything bad to the kids.

* * *

"You don't cook bad at all, Izumo. I don't get what Kotetsu was talking about."

The eighteen year old smiled down at the young Akimichi as the boy lifted his plate to ask for a third helping of the miso soup he had cooked up for all of the kids. He took the plate from him and began to serve him some more of the food, more than aware of how much a person from his clan could and should eat.

"He's just grumpy because he won't be able to leave TI early." The teen answered, then sighed when he looked over at the clearly grumpy Kotetsu.

His best friend was much too emotional sometimes. He didn't understand just what was so wrong about taking care of these eleven kids. They were mostly respectful and had yet to cause them any problems. They practically took care of themselves! And Chouji had even helped him improve his recipe for the soup, making it much more delicious than before.

"He's like Kiba, Chouji!" The only blonde female of the group, Inoichi's daughter ran up to the plump boy with a huff and a glare towards the hyperactive Inuzuka, whom was busy tying Kotetsu's hair up in knots with the help of the only blonde male. "Mean and rude."

" _I'm_ not mean!"

"I'm _not_ rude!"

Izumo didn't know what was more amusing. The fact that Kotetsu believed he wasn't rude or that that the Inuzuka actually thought he wasn't mean.

"You're actually a mean little shit, Kiba."

"Kotetsu!"

The calmer of the pair was about to head over from the stove to smack his best friend for daring to use such language around children, but he was beaten to it by the girl with the buns on top of her hair appearing out of literally _nowhere_ to throw a kunai at his knee. Kotetsu had been lucky and moved fast, but had clearly been surprised by the girl's speed.

"No swearing! Gen-Gen doesn't swear around us, so you shouldn't either! You should be happy it wasn't soap to your eyes!"

Kotetsu blinked at the girl in complete shock, eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly ajar. Then he blubbered out, "Don't you mean _mouth_?"

"Nope." The Nara breathed out from beside him, causing both teenagers to look down at him, even though he didn't even open his eyes. "She meant eyes."

Izumo didn't really know how he had ended up playing babysitter to these eleven kids. Kotetsu had tried to blame him, though, even though it had _not_ been his idea to try and skim through their duties just so they could head out early and try to get into a party being thrown by one of Konoha's richer families. That had all been _Kotetsu_ , even if the jerk didn't want to admit it.

But even though he wasn't sure, he knew that it was hilarious to see Kotetsu brought down quite a few pegs by children more than a decade younger than them.

"No! We can't ask them!"

"But, Sakura-Chan, there is no one else we could ask. Scarecrow-San has yet to give us any useful answers and Raidou-San does not enjoy speaking about such matters."

"A-Are you s-sure we can tru-ust them, Neji-nii-san?"

"Of course I am sure, Lady Hinata."

Izumo turned to look at the three gathered kids with a quirked eyebrow. Then his curiosity was peaked even further when the Hyuga with the long black walked up to him, a piece of paper clutched in one hand, a pen in the other, and a determined scowl on his face.

"Is everything alright?" The teen asked as he crouched down just slightly to look at the kid better, only to receive a haughty nod from the Hyuga.

"We wish for you to tell us all of the single kunoichi you know of!"

~/~

"There aren't that many kunoichi for Farmer man..."

"Not at all." Kotetsu lamented, arms crossed over his chest as he sat cross legged among the children.

Izumo looked at his best friend with a quirked eyebrow, actually surprised by him taking part of something with the kids he had, initially, wanted nothing to do with. But he soon smiled softly at the children, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the topic they had chosen to talk about.

"Are you sure there's nothing else you kids would rather discuss?"

"He told us that Anko eats kids, and we're kids, so we can't really have her around Genma." Shikamaru mumbled with his eyebrows drawn in with concentration, leaving Izumo to sigh at having been blatantly ignored. "Unless we want to be eaten, of course."

"Yeah, getting eaten doesn't sound like too much fun." Kotetsu mumbled in agreement, raising his hand to rub at his chin in deep thought. Then he breathed out and closed his eyes. "That leaves the twins, Fuki and Suiren, Kurenai- even though we're all pretty sure there's something going on between her and Asuma-, Junko, and Himawari for kunoichi he _knows._ "

"No Himawari!"

Kotetsu jumped slightly at the shout that came from the usually calm Hyuga, even though it was paired with a shout from the hyperactive dark haired girl that had tried to stab him with a kunai an hour ago. Izumo looked at them both quizzically and asked, "You know Himawari?"

The girl glared at him, all the while the boy sighed and nodded regretfully. "She was our teacher for a few months before she was relieved from her teaching duties."

Both chunin exchanged questioning looks, but Kotetsu soon shrugged and turned back to the children. "Fine by me. She's much too boring for someone like Genma. He needs someone calm, but a bit more energetic than him."

Why Kotetsu was speaking about Genma as if he actually knew the man was beyond Izumo. But the kids were hanging onto his every word, clearly taking everything he said to be true. And until now, Kotetsu had not said a single thing that might have gotten them in trouble. So Izumo had not been forced to stop his best friend.

 _Yet_.

But if he knew Kotetsu at all, there would come a point in which what he said would be either wrong or _too honest_. And when that time came, he'd be forced to stop him before he completely tainted these youthful minds.

The kids were seated in a circle around Kotetsu, with Neji and Hinata sitting right in front of him with pens and papers around them. One of the papers had writing on it and read 'list of kunoichi for Farmer man'. Beneath were the names Kotetsu had muttered. Anko's had been crossed out, though, by the Nara, as soon as Chouji had written it.

For some reason, these kids actually thought Anko was capable of eating them. And Izumo was caught between thinking that was the most adorable thing ever and feeling kind of bad for them.

"We're getting nowhere with kunoichi!" The Inuzuka exclaimed after a few seconds of silence, crossing his arms with a huff. "Is there no other kind of ninja we could think of?"

The kids exchanged looks at this, then looked at Kotetsu, who, in turn, looked up at Izumo with curiosity. Which made the older of the two sigh and shake his before beginning to answer his question... Only to get cut off by the pink haired one.

"I know! He could date a male ninja!" Her green eyes sparkled animatedly as she suddenly jumped up from her spot between the Uchiha and Chouji, then explained herself when she noticed how everyone was looking at her with questioning and confusion. "My mom! She has this one book with two women kissing on the front. She says I can't read it... But if two girls can kiss, then two guys can too! And only boyfriends and girlfriends and husband and wife kiss, so that means that there can be guys that have boyfriends and girls that have girlfriends!"

Izumo had heard quite a few crazy things in his life. Mostly from Kotetsu. But this one... It wasn't crazy in itself... But he honestly had no idea how a six year old had come to such a conclusion.

"Yeah! I see what you're talking about!" Ino jumped after her friend, fisting her left hand up to pump it into the air. "There are loads of guys out there! We should be able to find one for Genma without too much difficulty!"

"But..." The girl with the buns on her hair mumbled, looking down at the floor in confusion. "I thought that girls could only kiss guys. I didn't know they could kiss whoever they want."

He _really_ should have said something at that point to stop this whole thing. Izumo didn't want to get onto _any_ of these kids' parents' blacklist because of the conversation they were currently having. But just _how_ was he supposed to stop these kids? It wasn't as if either he or Kotetsu had helped them get to the conclusion. They had arrived at it by themselves. (With a little help from what was undoubtedly a romance novel targeted for middle aged women.)

"Believe it, Tenten!" Naruto suddenly jumped up, joining both girls standing up. "I've seen plenty dudes sucking face! Just like chicks! It's normal!"

Just where did that kid live to see such things so often that he deemed it normal?

"And ma says that you love who you love." Kiba nodded to himself, "Don't matter who it is as long as they're not a child-mol-what-ya-ma-call-it."

These kids... They did not live normal lives...

"But my father says that women can only love men. They cannot love each other. And it's... Uh..." The Uchiha drifted off in thought, then snapped his fingers together when the word came to him. "Disgusting!" Then he looked at his friends in confusion. "He says that it's disgusting to even think of two men together."

All of the kids seemed to have an answer for that. But the one to be listened to completely was the Aburame, whom straightened up to look at the Uchiha with an air of authority around him.

"There is nothing disgusting about love. And your father is an idiot." The kid truly was an Aburame. As blunt and brutally honest as all the others he'd ever come across. "He said that Farmer man was stupid to take care of us. And that your brother should not spend so much time with us. I would not listen to him when it comes to fun or romantic things, Sasuke."

"But... My father is intelligent..."

Suddenly, a booming and raucous laughter filled the break room they had taken over. And Izumo whirled around to face his best friend. He had been so busy paying attention to the children and their reasoning that he hadn't even realized that Kotetsu had begun to stifle giggles. And those giggles had now become full on laughter, loud and whooping.

"This is too good!" Kotetsu shouted out, wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye before turning to face the kids with a loose smile. "You kids are a lot less dumb than I thought you were."

"Kotetsu." Izumo growled, making sure to look as serious and angry as he could... Only to be ignored once more.

The jerk rolled his eyes and waved Izumo off, then continued, "But why don't we- instead of argue over how right or wrong it is or whatever- start up on that list of guys? I'm sure Genma's supposed to finish up with his interrogation in no time. And you want this done before he gets out, right?"

They all nodded immediately, even though Sasuke and Tenten continued to look troubled. Ino and Kiba knew a lot of possible shinobi and were the loudest, although other kids gave off their own ideas. Even both Hyuga's spoke up, really surprising Izumo. He would have expected them to have learned a view similar to Sasuke and Tenten's.

By the time the kids had finished up shouting out names, they had filled up three whole papers. Of course, that was because Neji's writing was still rather large. But there was quite a number of ninja they thought would be good for Genma.

At one point, Izumo had heard Ibiki's name thrown around. Just like 'Scarecrow', 'Bear', and 'Rai'. He didn't know who the last three men possibly were, but he'd gotten worried at Ibiki. He hadn't been able to say anything, though, because the kids had continued shouting out more names before he could have.

* * *

When he had finally finished the interrogation, Genma was tired, hungry, feeling just a tad bit remorseful, and just wanted to pick the kids up so he could return to his apartment.

"Yo, you two, how were the kids?"

Quite frankly, it didn't surprise him to have the kids suddenly shout and scramble to hide whatever it was that they had been working on. But he had _not_ expected to see the spiky haired teenager join in on the chaos, jumping up to shove the papers handed to him by Neji. The other one, Izumo, merely shook his head with a groan, clearly unimpressed with his friend's behavior.

"They were good, sir." He answered respectfully, turning to him even as the rest continued to run around, screaming about having to hide their 'Master Plan'. "They all behaved rather well."

Genma hid his amusement at the sight before him well. Seeing a chunin that was much older than the children running around with them while screaming about keeping silence about their secrets was quite the sight. And it did Genma's heavy heart well to see such a thing. It helped remind him that there weren't scum to be found in all aspects of life. There were still good people around.

"Ko! You can stop running around!" Izumo huffed in exasperation at his friend's actions, only to have Kotetsu suddenly pick Shino up and twirl with him, both screaming out pure nonsense at this point. This made his friend sigh and shake his head, then cross his arms and jut his hip out in the universal sign of aggravation. "I thought you wanted to go out to party and drink. You can now."

Those words finally broke through the insanity unleashed by Genma just appearing. Kotetsu stopped and lowered Shino slightly, although he did not place him back down on the floor. And when they noticed that he had stopped, the rest of the children slowly stopped screaming until finally there was silence in the room, all looking at Kotetsu, even as Kotetsu looked at Izumo.

"Dude..." Kotetsu groaned after a moment, shaking his head regretfully. "You don't say stuff like that with higher ups around!"

Genma cocked an eyebrow and bit at his senbon in curiosity, knowing rather well who the higher up the teen referred to was. Normally, he wouldn't care about teenagers drinking. But he knew for a fact that these two had not been part of the war. And the only teen shinobi that were allowed to drink were those that had served their time back then and continued to serve it.

For some reason, he felt like meddling. Even though, before, he would have let those kids go off without any words to them. There was just a bitter feeling in his mouth now when he thought about those that were younger than twenty one drinking.

"Aren't you two a bit young to be even thinking about alcohol?"

He didn't miss the smirk that appeared on Izumo's face when Kotetsu shouted out in annoyance, even though he continued to carry Shino.

"I'm eighteen. Kotetsu is seventeen."

"Shino, you'll help me get revenge on Izumo the Icky, right?"

The Aburame immediately nodded at the petition. But soon Genma found someone tugging at the leg of his pants and looked down to find Neji looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Izumo and Kotetsu are younger then twenty one?"

"Yes, we are." Izumo answered the boy, then had to avoid a pen thrown his way by his partner.

"Interesting..." Neji nodded to

himself, then asked, "We will be leaving now?"

Genma found his question somewhat odd. But, even with how amusing it had been to see the two chunin interacting with the kids, he wanted to get back home. So he nodded, thanked both of them for caring for them, warned them to stay away from any kind of alcohol, and walked off with all eleven kids.

* * *

He should have understood Neji's question the moment he had made it.

Iwashi was seventeen. And Genma made sure he was safe and cared for, even though the kid didn't need it.

Kotetsu was seventeen. And he lived with Izumo. Both didn't have parents, they'd been killed in the Nine Tails' attack.

Quite frankly, it had taken Genma too long to figure out just why Neji had asked it. But when he did, he couldn't help but smile like an idiot at the way Kotetsu lugged Shino around the living room, running away from the rest of the kids while screaming about how the Aburame was his only true ally in this mental asylum. And then, when Izumo's head popped out from the kitchen and asked him what he would like to eat, he and Chouji were cooking, Genma couldn't help but appreciate Neji's need to find even more strays to fill his apartment with.

Both kids were crazy. But they were the right type of crazy for the situation Genma had landed himself in.

* * *

The kids were free from school today. Two months into the school year and they were celebrating their first free day. It was a day that was taken to commemorate the founding of the village, and the children had arrived the day before eagerly chattering about what they had learned about the First Hokage.

"Bear! You came!"

Genma looked up from the backpack he was packing to find Bear lumbering in through his room's window and Ino running towards him with a broad smile.

"You asked me to come." The man answered simply as he patted the blonde's head softly, then looked up at Genma, mask still as terrifying and emotionless as when they had first met. "The children invited me to join your picnic at the park."

Of course they had.

The senbon enthusiast smiled softly at the muscle bound man and turned back to making sure that he had packed enough snacks and water bottles for the hyperactive children.

"I'm not surprised by that, if I can tell you the truth. Raidou and Kakashi are both waiting outside, being entertained by Chouji, Tenten, and Shikamaru."

Both boys had been left to keep the men busy and away from Genma. They had seemingly created a pact earlier on that consisted of doing everything possible to get on Genma's nerves before the day even ended. And that meant that, when they had arrived, they had begun to distract him, poke fun at his lack of love life, and even mess with what he was trying to take to the picnic by throwing in all kinds of random items into the bags he packed.

He had two. One with the perishables and water that were supposed to keep the kids hydrated and fed throughout the course of their time in the largest child friendly park known to any well-known shinobi, _Akagahara_.

Why he was going to the greenery that surrounded the spot was beyond him, if he could be honest. But, apparently, Tenten had been told by her father that the place was where he ended up taking his chunin exams. And now that she had told her friends about how awesome and beautiful the place was, all of the kids were clear on where they wanted to spend their first vacation from school.

"Did you tell Rags and Bands?"

Genma looked up from the pack he had finished checking over to find Ino hugging Bear's leg tightly, all the while the large man looked down at her, not moving a single inch. Rags and Bands were the newest nicknames he had heard the kids give any of the people they met. And it kind of worried him, seeing how whenever the kids gave someone a nickname, it usually wound up with them integrating into their group.

It had happened with Bitch Face at the beginning, although that had changed for Rai now. Genma had a sneaking suspicion that the kids had stopped using such a name after his injury to keep from injuring Raidou any further with words. And if he was right, then he would have reason to believe the kids were much smarter than some might think. Because for six year olds to understand that words scathed in such a manner to change something they were so used to... They must have understood the true severity of Raidou's injuries.

"I _did_ tell them both." Bear nodded, then his voice took on a more intrigued tone. "Just how do you kids even know Kotetsu and Izumo? They are not Shiranui's usual target demographic."

Genma could have bitten back with some kind of retort about not having targets, but instead victims. But he just shrugged slightly, closed up the pack on his bed, and turned around to face the rest of the bored children laying at the foot of it.

Naruto and Kiba were currently snoring on top of one another, clearly having been struck by a need to sleep out of utter boredom. Sakura and Hinata were busy braiding their hair and looked so cute Genma couldn't be bothered to scold them. And Sasuke, Neji, and Shino were murmuring amongst each other in a way that made Genma remember all kinds of prank plots Naruto and Kiba came up with.

All of the kids had their own individual bag packed from home, except for Naruto. He didn't have anything except for the spare set of clothes Genma had forced him to bring before coming from the orphanage.

Just how the six year old had no extra bag to use was beyond him. But at least he now knew what type of birthday gift he could get the kid... If he decided to stick around for this birthday...

"Okay, munchkins." Genma clapped his hands rather loudly to make sure the sound was enough to awake both snoozing boys, a lopsided smile making its way onto his lips. "Time for fun by Akagahara!"

Immediately the children that had been waiting for him jumped up and began to cheer, running out of his room to tell the five outside that they would finally be leaving. But Kiba and Naruto were a bit slower, groggily waking up with yawns and groans before they saw Genma standing before them with two large bags over his shoulders. They both blinked at him for a second, then their eyes widened comically as the sight before them registered. Then, they too sprung up and began to cheer.

All the while they did not notice the small and rather crooked braids their female friends had managed to create.

* * *

The kids were their usual, hyperactive selves while in the greenery they had, for some reason beyond Genma, dubbed 'Aka Park'. The 'walk'- which was really a run- to the old place had taken them only an hour, seeing how between seven- mostly grown- shinobi and Itachi, they had managed to run to the place instead of walk.

Kotetsu and Izumo had met up with them at the village gates, bearing their own small packs and twin smiles. Iwashi had appeared a few seconds later, looking like a giddy little kid with a red bandanna that matched Tenten's own on his head, rather than his usual hitai-ite. The four teens that accompanied them were wearing civilian clothes, even though the four older men all chose to keep their standard shinobi uniform.

They had all marveled at the centerpiece that was Akagahara itself.

None of them had ever taken their chunin exams there. That practice had been left by the time Genma's year was set to take it. Although he had heard rumors of Hayate's team having gone through some kind of team exercise there, although Iwashi's friend had never said a thing about it.

"I want to go inside!"

"What did you all promise me?"

All of the children's awe filled gazes turned to him and soon fizzled out into a kind of annoyance filled one, all the while Itachi recited, "The kids can go to the green surrounding Akagahara, but they are not to go inside. And they already promised you they would not even try, reason why I should not allow myself to be fooled by any lies they may give."

Genma smiled over at the Uchiha and nodded, then motioned for Bear. "You brought the blankets, right?"

The man nodded and soon pulled off the bag from his shoulders. When he opened it, he moved to grab what was inside. But found his hands being slapped away by much smaller ones. And Genma could only look on in amusement as Tenten and Ino pulled the bag away from Bear and forced Naruto and Sasuke to set up the blankets they were supposed to sit on.

While the girls argued about it being the gentlemanly thing to do and for the boys to get their butts in motion, Genma looked at the rest of the kids and motioned for them to hand over their bags.

"We're here. You can go off to have some fun."

It hadn't taken any further nudging from him. The children all dumped their bags by his feet and took off, all apparently set on getting something done as soon as they were able to.

"R-Rags?" Genma looked down at Chouji with slight amusement dancing on his features, then smiled when Izumo bent down slightly so he could take to the child properly.

"Yeah, Chouji?"

"Would you like to play 1, 2, 3, fish with Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata and I?" The boy asked softly, looking up at the older male with wide eyes.

Genma didn't know why, exactly, his friends had decided to send him off as the spokesperson for their game. But he guessed it was merely as a way to influence the teenager into going with them, seeing how Izumo had a rather deep and easy to see connection with the young Akimichi.

"Of course, Chouji." The teen smiled, then looked over at Kotetsu. "Want to join, Ko?"

The wild haired teen shrugged, thought about it for a second, looked over at Shino, then shook his head. The Aburame was slowly making his way towards the patch of flowers to the side of the monument, but Genma trusted him to not try and go inside, so he didn't try to stop the boy.

"Nah. I think I'll join Shino. He doesn't rat me out and has promised me to help me get my revenge on you." He answered cheekily, then placed his pack at Genma's feet like the rest of the kids had. "Shino! Let's find some ants to put down Izumo's pants!"

With that he took off running, all the while Shino nodded seriously at his suggestion.

Genma and Izumo both sighed at his antics, but soon Izumo placed his own bag by the rest of the childrens' and followed after the four he was to play with. Which left Genma with Raidou, Kakashi, and Bear. Ino and Tenten had bullied Naruto and Sasuke into placing the blankets down on the ground, even though the boys clearly weren't too happy about it.

"Seriously, Ino, it's fine. It doesn't have to be straightened." Iwashi chuckled softly at the girl's wanting to have everything perfect, which made the blonde glare up at him in annoyance.

"But it has to be perfect."

"No it does not, Ino." Bear crouched down beside her to pat her shoulder softly, then motioned for the flower patch Kotetsu and Shino were heading towards. "Why don't you head over there? I know how much you love flowers. You could go and have some fun with those."

The blonde furrowed her eyebrows and seemed just about read to argue with the ANBU, but soon enough huffed and grabbed Tenten's hand to force her to go with her.

Genma smirked after them both, then turned to the men left behind and nodded at them all. "Let's set everything up before they get hungry."

~/~

"Rai! Scarecrow! Here are your headbands!"

The mentioned men glanced up from their card game to find that Ino was offering flowers strewn into twin headbands, one just minutely bigger than the other.

On her head was a piece similar to the ones offered, although with more purple flowers than the blues and greens Genma saw on the offered pieces. And Tenten sported one of her own, although with blue and red flowers, clearly having been made specifically for her.

After they had set everything up for when the children eventually came around and demanded to be fed, the men had sat down and begun to enjoy their time in the beautiful green surrounding Akagahara. Genma had to admit that, even though the place itself was rather dangerous, its surrounding scenery was beautiful. And it didn't hurt to look, seeing how it also allowed him to make sure the children weren't up to anything too dangerous.

He and Bear had been watching the kids while giving offhanded and almost lazy commentary on who they thought would win whatever it was that was being played.

(Shino and Kotetsu were too busy gathering ants into a jar Kotetsu had brought. The rest had moved on from their initial game to hide and seek and Sakura was winning most of the rounds. Izumo was letting them win because he wasn't too competitive. And Itachi, Kiba, Iwashi, Sasuke, and Naruto were playing something that reminded Genma of hide and seek, even though they had sticks and screamed out 'You're the Scarecrow!'. Kiba and Sasuke seemed to be the ones that one the most, all the while Naruto always seemed to be Scarecrow. Iwashi made sure to not win too much and to allow Naruto a victory or two, playing a good mediator between the three kids.)

"Uh..." Kakashi blinked as he looked at the offered piece in trepidation, then turned to look at Raidou, who was just as hesitant. "Flowers aren't really something I would like to wear."

Ino's smile quickly turned into a frown as soon as Kakashi spoke, which made Genma sigh softly and shake his head. Seriously? Were they really going to go against Ino? On a day like _this_?

"But... I _made_ them for _you_." The girl pushed the slightly bigger one onto Kakashi's head, which made the man jump slightly. But he, instead of trying to get away from the girl, just allowed her to do it, huffing in clear annoyance. "Why _wouldn't_ you want them?" She questioned as she turned to Raidou, then pushed his own headband over his hair.

They were expertly crafted, if Genma could tell the truth. The weaving technique used by the girls was superb and looked good. But his friends were most probably fighting about it because of some stupid notion about what was macho and what wasn't.

He wouldn't, necessarily, want a flower headband. But if he was given one, he'd accept it with a smile. Ino had made it, after all. And the kid deserved to be recognized for her talents. All children deserved that, after all. To be told they were good in whatever they truly were good at.

Raidou looked like a pouting puppy when Ino turned to offer Bear his own headband. And Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest, beginning to sulk.

Why Genma kept these idiots around was beyond him at times.

"And I made Gen-Gen a crown!"

Genma was taken out of his thoughts about his friends being idiots by being offered an even more elaborate style of headband, one with peaks that resembled the crowns shown that the kings of old once wore.

He looked at it in surprise before smiling softly, "Thank you, Ino. It's lovely."

He made to grab it to put it on, only to have his hands smacked away by the blonde girl. " _I'll_ do that, Gen-Gen."

"Oh. Okay."

The girl had allowed Bear to place his own headband on top of his head. But maybe that was because the mask of his caused the girl to have to bend awkwardly to do so...

Genma smiled softly when the elaborate piece was slipped onto his head, snug and not at all uncomfortable. There was a bit of weight on it, but minute. And from the way both Tenten and Ino's faces lit up, he knew they were overjoyed by him having accepted the crown so easily.

"But I don't wanna wear this... It's so..." Raidou's eyes narrowed as he seemed to look for the correct word to describe the flowery gifts, oblivious to the way Ino gasped softly and her eyes began to water.

Immediately, Genma became worried.

"Just wear the headband, Raidou." Bear growled at the man, then looked over at Ino and Tenten. "Run along, little ones. I will make sure the idiots don't break these beautiful creations of yours."

There were no more tears in Ino's eyes after that. She thanked Bear with a broad smile and skipped off after Tenten, whom wanted to give the rest of their kids their own headbands.

With a chuckle, Genma leaned back onto the palms of his hands and looked at Ino and Tenten rush among their friends. The first to receive their headbands were the group of Naruto, Iwashi, Kiba, Itachi, and Sasuke.

Iwashi accepted it with more grace than Kakashi or Raidou. He bowed low, using his hand to curtsy his stick as if it were a sword. Genma smiled at the sight and knew that Ino and Tenten giggled.

"I don't want to wear this..."

"Suck it up. If you don't, you'll make _Inoichi's_ daughter cry."

"He's not my boss."

Genma smirked at both idiots, "He _could be_. And that's all that matters."

The men didn't seem too amazed with his answer, but they stopped fussing over the flower accessories. So Genma turned back to watching over the children, only to frown at the sight he found.

"That's for girls! I don't want to be no stupid girl!" Naruto growled, "They're smelly and _girly_!"

It was interesting, really, to see how elementary the kids insults could be. It reminded Genma that, even though they were demonic masterminds, they were still just children.

"I made this one for you, you idiot!" Ino shouted back at her fellow blonde, only to have Sasuke back his fellow boy up.

"That's not something guys are supposed to wear, Ino. You should just give those to the girls here."

"You jerk!" Tenten yelled, taking a step forward to smack Sasuke upside the head.

The boy dodged and only stuck his tongue out at her.

This was going to start a fight among the children. He was just sure of it. Kiba would join in at any time and-

"What's so bad about flowers?"

Genma blinked in surprise at Kiba as he looked curiously at the red and green headband Tenten had offered him, then took it to analyze it further. "Is there poison or something?"

Sasuke, Naruto, and Iwashi were both just as surprised as Genma. Itachi, though, just looked down at the Inuzuka without any emotions on his face. "Kiba, you're always against anything girly."

The Inuzuka snorted, placing the headband on his head in a crooked manner. "Yeah, when the stuff's girly. But this is nature, you idiot. And the Inuzuka Clan is respectful to all kinds of nature. If it weren't for the trees and dirt and water, we wouldn't be around, now would we?"

Everybody was surprised by the kid's uncharacteristic thoughtfulness. But none more so than the girls that had made the flowery accessories.

"Kiba..." Both girls looked at him with wide eyes, stunned in place.

"Tch, don't get all girly on me. Iwashi, let's keep playing!"

"You don't have to be such a jerk about it!"

But the Inuzuka took off with Iwashi, forcing him to begin playing once more. Then the two girls turned to Naruto and Sasuke, glaring at them.

At this point, they had gotten the attention from the rest of their friends. The rest of the kids, including Izumo and Kotetsu, had walked over to them and had began to accept their flower headbands.

"It's beautiful. Thank you, you two." Izumo bowed to the girls when they placed one on his head, then elbowed Kotetsu in the ribs to accept his own. The younger teen glared at his friend but smiled at the girls, rather polite about the whole thing.

(Bear pointed that out to both Raidou and Kakashi to make them see they were being irrational. It was at this point that both men noticed how close Bear had become to the children... And the point in which they vowed to make the kids love them even more than they loved Bear.)

"The flowers are lovely, Ino-chan." Neji smiled at the girl, then nodded at Tenten. "Thank you both."

Shino quietly stepped forward and placed his own over his head, then looked up at Kotetsu almost expectantly. The teen patted his head softly, making Shino begin to glow in happiness. And Genma had to admit, the Aburame looked adorable with the headdress over his hood.

"You could have invited me, you two. I know how to weave because of my mom. So does Shika!" Chouji had smiled at Ino as she placed his on his head, all the while Shikamaru sighed heavily. "Don't tell them that, Chouji... I don't need to work any more than I already do..."

Hinata had stuttered out a thank you while Sakura blushed brightly and nodded at both her friends. And, soon enough, the only people in the group to not be wearing their flower accessories were Naruto and both Uchihas.

"It's girly! It's not for guys! It's-"

"Is there one for me, Ino-chan?"

The enraged Uchiha's shouting sputtered off when his brother knelt down in front of the girls and asked for his own. And when Tenten produced one similar to her own and placed it on his head, Itachi smiled and nodded at her, thanking both the girls for their beautiful work.

After that he straightened up and smiled at his brother, who looked away in confusion and annoyance.

"Even Genma's wearing his crown."

The kids had looked over at him when Izumo had pointed that out, which made him smile and wave over at them.

After that, it didn't take much convincing to make the stubborn boys to accept the gifts.

..~..~..

Thank you all so much for the love for this story! I never expected for it to garner so much popularity, but I certainly am grateful for it!

I hope you all enjoyed this! And I hope you're able to stick with me for the rest of Genma's tale!


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter 10: How Genma Found out His Children Cared More Than He Ever Would Have Thought... And That He Cared A Lot More As Well:_ The children were never to be left with Kotetsu or Izumo ever again. Not after the chain of events that took place after Genma allowed them to spend time together. Not after they went ahead and did the unthinkable and tried to set him up with both _men and women_... Kakashi found this hilarious for some reason... Genma was just about ready to chuck him off of the Hokage Heads... But he'd finish up with hugging the kids first. He could kill Kakashi later.

..~..~..

"Are we sure we think this guy is good?"

Genma quirked an eyebrow at Neji's question, stopping on his way towards his room to give the munchkins their afternoon snacks. He usually never eavesdropped on the children. But this question was a rather odd one. And considering how oddly the children had been acting for the past few months (ever since they had met Kotetsu and Izumo), Genma had an idea that this may just be the reason why.

"He doesn't hate bugs or dogs or flowers. His file says he likes kids and having fun. And he's not related to any of our clans." Shikamaru answered seriously, which made Genma's eyes narrow in thought.

Just what were these kids up to? Were they... Were they looking for somebody to replace him?

"He'll be the perfect guy, then." Ino piped up, and a flash of betrayal struck Genma's heart before he could even think of steeling it.

He stopped listening in then and turned around to take the tray of food back to the kitchen. When he was at the counter, he numbly placed the tray down, all the while too busy feeling hollow at the thought of the children looking for somebody to replace him with.

Why else would they be looking at someone that liked kids and having fun? Why else would they be looking for someone that wasn't clan related?

But... Why would they want to get rid of him? Didn't they like him? And, even more curious, why wouldn't they be forcing any of the people they already knew into doing it? They had more than enough shinobi to strong arm into taking care of them. They didn't need to go outside of people they knew.

"Farmer man! Farmer man! Where are my beautiful midgets?"

Genma was forced out of his thoughts by Kotetsu's loud shouting and the slamming of his door against the wall behind it (something that happened so often that the doorknob had been imprinted into the wall). And when he looked up through the opening of his kitchen, he found that Kotetsu was striding his way into his apartment, even though Izumo followed behind at a much more sedate pace.

"You don't have to slam my door every time you come in, you know." Genma mumbled as he tried to get a hold of his buzzing nerves, trying to seem more tired than relaxed. That way they wouldn't bother him so much.

"But Shino says it's tradition." Kotetsu remarked with a smirk, "And we all know how much we have to honor tradition."

Genma sighed heavily as he felt a headache beginning to come, but wasn't allowed to retort before a hooded blur ran out of his bedroom and slammed directly into Kotetsu's legs.

"Ko!" Shino squealed as his arms clamped around the teenager's legs, which got him to scream out "Shi!"

"Te!"

"No!" Kotetsu swooped down to pick the kid up into his arms, then began to swing him around.

Shino shouted out in pure glee as he was swung, "Tsu!"

"My favorite Aburame!" Kotetsu finished with a large flourish, threw Shino up into the air, and caught him before setting him back down on the floor and patting his head. "How've you been, lil' bee?"

Genma had only seen Shino so hyperactive and content with one other person in his whole life. And that person was him. But because of all of the kids he had to take care of, he was barely ever able to spend some alone time with _any_ of the kids... Could that be the reason why the kids wanted to change him? Because he didn't spend enough time with them, one on one?

Soon enough the rest of the children came charging out of his room to greet their teen aged visitors and they began to entertain them the only way they knew how. Kotetsu hyped the hyperactive half of them up while Izumo began to help the more calmer half with their homework.

Genma looked over them with an impending sense of dread coming over him as the teenagers worked. He was barely able to spend time with them if it wasn't afterschool. And even then it was only for a good three hours before they had to head back home and go to bed so they could begin a new day.

Maybe the kids were tired of having to share him with his work at T&I... Maybe they had just outgrown him, like he'd always thought they would... But, if he had expected it, why did it hurt so much?

"Gen-Gen? Where are the snacks?"

Genma blinked out of his reverie at the tugging at his pant legs, only to find Sasuke moving around him to grab at the tray of food on the counter, all the while Naruto tugged at his pants.

"Found them, Fox Breath. Come on, I want to finish my homework so I can play with Kotetsu." Sasuke commanded, which made the blonde nod and follow after him, leaving Genma alone once more in the kitchen.

... Play with Kotetsu... They didn't even want to play with him anymore...

* * *

Work at T&I became much more important and less likely to be brushed off after Genma eavesdropped on the kids. Which meant he spent more time actually working than avoiding said work. And by that, he ended up unable to take care of the kids on some afternoons, even though they all supposedly wanted to be with him again.

It was fine by him, though. It hurt to look at their smiling and seemingly happy faces while knowing that they wanted to leave him.

He may have been strong... But he wasn't nearly as strong as he hoped he would be...

* * *

"B-Bear-san?"

"Yes, Hinata?"

"Where d-do ba-bies c-come from?"

"Why are you asking that, Hinata?"

"B-Because my mo-mother says that I-I will be having a b-baby sib-bling in March... Wh-where is i-it co-comi-ming fr-from?"

Bear sitting with the four little girls at the dinner table with small tea cups and plates all around them was quite the sight. The large man was a fearsome and able bodied warrior. Yet he looked amazingly non-threatening with the flower crown Tenten and Ino had made for him from some of the flowers from the Yamanaka flower shop.

The question about how children were made was a rather... _Sensitive subject_. And Genma wasn't sure if the parents would be happy to know that their kids knew too much about the human reproduction cycle when they didn't want them to...

With a soft sigh, Genma set down the reports of interrogations (most that were led by Anko and had ended up with prisoners that were much too traumatized to answer) he had been reading and looked at the children.

Ever since he found out they wanted to replace him, he had done a rather good job of avoiding important conversations with them. But this one he was sure he couldn't avoid.

"When a man and a woman love each other, Hinata," He began, making all of the girls turn to look at him, giving him their full attention. "They take part in a private dance between only them. And when the man gives the woman his seed, it grows inside of her stomach until it's big enough to come into world."

This had been the way he had heard his mother explain to his sister back when he had been too young to understand what truly happened for a child to be conceived. And from the way Bear didn't try to stop him, he guessed he hadn't done too bad.

"Does..." Ino mumbled, glancing up at him with curious blue eyes. "Does that mean we're all plants?"

Genma legitimately felt like groaning in exasperation at the curious question. But, luckily enough, Kotetsu throwing his door open and the boys running in and screaming like animals proved to be a good distraction. Especially when they began to disrupt the girls tea party, making them turn their attention to the rowdy boys and away from the tired shinobi.

~/~

Later that Friday, all of the kids lay in their respective sleeping spots, soundly asleep. Some were on his bed, others on the guest bed, and Shino and Ino had managed to wind up at the top of the refrigerator once more... Just like all that time ago...

Years had passed, yet they were still somehow able to fit up there...

"Genma, are you alright?"

Glancing up from the reports once more, Genma found Izumo standing in front of him with a tray with tea and cookies, dark eyes shining with worry.

Kotetsu was over on the sofa being used as a pillow by Hinata and Neji, while Bear was caught in the guest bedroom by Ino, Kiba, and Naruto.

Both teenagers had spending even more time with the children than before because of all the work Genma had been taken on. They even went as far as spending more time in his apartment than he did to help the kids with their homework before accompanying them home.

Squeezing his eyes shut to try and soothe the pressure that had built up in them, the older male nodded softly. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be, kid?"

He regretted having voiced the question out loud as soon as Izumo leveled him with a look of pure dismay and annoyance. "You know why, Genma... Now, do you want to talk about it before the kids start making plans to force you into hanging out with them again? Or would you much rather wait and see what they are able to come up with?"

There was a bit of resentment for Izumo and Kotetsu deep inside of Genma. But he knew it was so stupid and baseless that he ignored it to the best of his abilities whenever it tried to rear its ugly head.

Looking at the younger contemplatively for a second, Genma shook his head and grabbed the tray that was offered to him. "I'm fine, kid. Really. I'm just tired."

Izumo wasn't convinced by his answer. But he dropped the matter and moved to Genma's kitchen, beginning to wash the plates used for dinner so they wouldn't pile up.

* * *

A few weeks later, something odd happened. After years of taking care of children and basically forgetting about his own needs aside from food, water, shelter, and getting dressed, Genma had all but forgotten about what having a love life had once been like back when he'd had the time to actually have one...

Not like he'd ever truly had one... One-night stands never truly counted as a love life, not even in the sad book he called his life.

But, for the first time in years, he was asked out on a date.

Junko, a kunoichi he'd worked with a few times. She asked if he wanted to go out for some drinks and maybe some dinner. And while Genma had been intrigued by the fiery woman, he hadn't really felt like going out. He was dreading the day the children finally decided to ditch him and couldn't truly relax because of it. So he couldn't really have much fun either.

The red haired woman was nice about it. She joked about taking out her disappointment on an unsuspecting Anko and then went her merry way.

But as she had walked, Genma couldn't help but find it rather odd that she had waited months to ask him out for some kind of date. They'd known each other for a while now.

Why _now_?

* * *

The next time someone asked him on a date, it was Kurenai Yuuhi. And that was about as odd as when Junko asked him out. Especially considering how Asuma was a few feet away and his glare could have burned holes into the back of Genma's head if he had put a bit more hatred into it.

Kurenai had been pretty nonchalant about it, though. "Why not, Genma? You're single, I'm single, and some dinner between us wouldn't hurt. We're both grown adults and can make mature decisions."

(Genma guessed Asuma had done something that had left a bad taste in Kurenai's mouth. It usually happened. Especially seeing how they were an unofficially official couple that never admitted or agreed to anything, much to the annoyance and exasperation of everyone around them.)

"I'm flattered, Kurenai-" He began, ready to let her down easy like Junko, but was stopped by her raising her hand and smiling up at him with a wink.

"On me? Just to give you some time to relax before you head back to your kids?"

Being reminded of the kids made a pang of grief shoot through him. But he quickly stamped it down and sighed at Kurenai, who placed a caring hand on his shoulder, face soft and understanding.

He agreed to a dinner as friends. And Kurenai was actually a pretty good person to speak to about the dumbest and smartest of things.

It had been a while since Genma had befriended a woman and had an actual conversation with them. He had become accustomed to always being either around men, the likes of Tsume and Anko (which were insane women), and children.

After that dinner, he figured out it wouldn't hurt to have a more feminine touch around his life.

* * *

"Torune's a good kid, if you ask me. A bit socially awkward, but what Aburame isn't?"

Genma stopped drinking his tea when he heard the rather peculiar words from Kotetsu, "Torune? ... Kotetsu, are you feeling okay? I don't take care of any kid named like that."

The teenager rolled his eyes at him, scoffed, and took a large gulp of his soda before answering. "Torune Aburame, Genma. Shino's older brother." Then he noticed the confused and unbelieving looks the shinobi around him gave him and was startled. "Wait... You mean you've never met his brother before?"

"Nope. Never." Kakashi shook his head, then jabbed a thumb towards Genma, "He said he was imaginary."

The second oldest of the men there turned a dark glare on Kakashi before turning back to Kotetsu and explaining himself. "I've never seen Shino's brother. So I kind of figured he was just an imaginary friend he'd created to deal with life and stuff."

He'd had a reason to believe so earlier. And he believed he still had a damn good reason to believe that the kid didn't really have a big brother. He'd never seen the kid, Shino only talked about him as 'my brother' or 'big brother', and Shibi had never even spoken about him. He'd also never even heard about the kid coming around with Shino, something that wasn't normal for this group of kids.

"He's real. I've seen him plenty of times." Kotetsu smiled broadly over at Genma, then explained himself, "I sometimes stop on the way back to our apartment by the Aburame compound. Shino likes the company and Torune has accepted me as part of the 'hive', I guess. They're both some really good kids."

Kotetsu... He'd met Torune... Even though Genma had never even heard the kid's _name_.

"And you said you'd never be tied down, Ko." Kakashi smirked over at the teenager as he shook his head, then looked at Izumo. "How about you? Forming close ties to the Akimichi clan?"

The teenager with the covered eye rolled the only visible one, but answered, "Chouji's family enjoys having me around from time to time, yeah." Then he looked over at Genma, "How's work been recently?"

"It's been fine, kid..." Genma breathed out, then looked over at the clock on his wall and knocked his knuckles against the dinner table softly. "I should get back to those reports, though..."

That was what his life had become. Reports, avoiding intense conversation with the kids and friends, and trying to keep from showing how truly sad he felt on the inside.

He'd gotten too attached to these kids... He should have known better, but he'd allowed himself... He truly was a fool...

"What? _Seriously_?" Kakashi frowned as he flicked a mostly melted piece of ice from his soda over at Genma, who lazily dodged it before settling a disinterested gaze on the younger male. "You're working too much, Genma. And there's no real reason for it. The village isn't at war anymore. We're at peace. You've no reason to run yourself ragged."

There was an extremely real reason for it, though, that had nothing to do with village safety. But Genma wasn't about to explain that to them and merely shrugged before he got up, stretched, and grabbed his barely touched glass of water. Then he walked over to his kitchen and set it down on the counter, knowing that one of the kids would eventually wake up, get thirsty, and drink from it.

"Izumo, you've got my keys. Remember to lock up by midnight."

"You're not coming back to sleep?" The teenager questioned, which made Genma shake his head.

"I've got to set a few reports, files, and records straight." He explained as he tightened the knot on his forehead, then walked over to his front door. "Someone was smart enough to let Anko do it, so everything's messed up now. I'm going to try and fix some of it up."

"But that's work for rookies like these two, Genma." Kakashi's tone insinuated distrust, but Genma ignored him as he opened his door.

"I offered. Besides, this way those two aren't called in for that and can take care of the kids for me."

"But... Genma, shouldn't you-" Kotetsu tried, but Genma never even turned to look at them when he walked out, not even bothering with any further explanations.

* * *

Something even odder than being asked out on a date by Kurenai or Junko happened about a week after dinner with Kurenai.

Genma had been walking back from T&I to his apartment when it happened. One of his co-workers from his workplace, Inoichi's right hand man, Mawashi Dokuraku, ran up to him a few feet away from T&I's exit and asked if he could accompany him home.

The three year old man was calm and usually good company. When they worked, he was a hard ass that wanted perfection. Which was the reason why many called him 'The Demon Sergeant of the Analysis Team', even at such a young age. But outside of work, he was kind and funny.

"Hey, Genma, we've been working together for a while now..." The slightly older man began with an easy smile on his lips, "Would you like to go out for some drinks tonight?"

The question caught Genma off guard. But he smiled softly back at the other man, "I'm not really looking for a relationship right now, Mawashi."

"I said drinks, right?" Mawashi asked back easily, even though Genma could see his shoulders drop in disappointment. "There's nothing wrong with two co-workers going out and having some fun, you know. And you could invite the rest of your buddies, so you can all spend some time unwinding."

Mawashi, even with as serious and put together as he was, seemed to know just what might be needed to relax... And he was promising to do it as friends and keep things chill...

"I'll think about it."

(He didn't end up going. Because when he got home, he found the kids chasing after Kakashi and Kotetsu, Izumo and Iwashi inside of his kitchen, and Raidou sitting at his dinner table helping Hinata out with her homework... This ended up in reminding Genma of his imminent replacement and he just wasn't up for drinks after.)

* * *

Genma didn't really think of himself as a romantic man. He didn't even know if he liked men enough to go out with them... Or if he even found women attractive enough to truly want to be with them. He didn't really think of himself as someone that would ever end up with a significant other, nor that he would survive long enough to get married.

Apparently, though, others found him attractive enough to ask him out.

Even Shimon gave it a try at some point, along with other kunoichi and shinobi.

And each time he told them that he wasn't really looking for anything in his life. Most understood and asked to go out as just friends. Some were apparently heartbroken by him not going with them. But all were actually extremely nice about the whole thing and didn't bring up date talk afterwards.

This was all extremely weird. But at least it seemed to stop after Tonbo drunkenly announced to every single ninja in the bar he had been visiting that Genma's Mother Hen Heart only had enough room in it for the kids he took care of.

(Genma hadn't seen it. But Raidou and Iwashi had. And they had not let him live it down.)

* * *

"Kids, we've got to get more aggressive with our tactics."

"We agree, Kotetsu-san. Genma is becoming even more distant and none of us like it."

Kurenai blinked at the congregation of children and chunin she now found herself with. But she remained quiet, listening intently to everything that was being said.

When she had first been contacted by the children, she'd been taken aback by their plan. Especially because they had thought her a good match for Genma. But then the elder Hyuga had explained their reasons for wanting Genma to find a girlfriend and she had been forced to admit that the idea wasn't too bad.

Even though she didn't really know Genma all that well, she respected him. While they weren't exactly friends, they had always maintained a professional and rather pleasant relationship. And he had always been pretty interesting to be around, someone both calm and collected, yet funny and spontaneous. And knowing that these kids just wanted the best for him, she had wanted to help, even though she had known that the man would never have accepted a date from her.

Although that dinner with him had proved to be successful, just not for the reasons the kids had wished. Kurenai had befriended Genma more closely and they now hung out whenever the man was feeling up for chatting about anything that came to mind.

"I still think we should try and throw this Guy guy at Genma." Kiba huffed, puffing his chest and cheeks up, "He's strong, likes kids and having fun, and doesn't hate anything we like. Why haven't we tried him yet?"

"Because this guy was his old teammate, blockhead!" Ino growled as she bonked the Inuzuka on his head, making him immediately shy away and whine at the injury. "It'll be weird if he suddenly asks him out on a date. You heard Kurenai's assessment!"

"Genma's said no to everyone we've tried to set him up with... This is never going to work..." Sakura mumbled sadly, sitting down on the floor with Hinata, Chouji, and Shikamaru, while the more animated children stood around in front of Kotetsu, Izumo, and Kurenai.

It was odd, if she could tell the truth, to be inside of Genma's apartment without the man there. But Kotetsu and Izumo seemed to have the run of the place while Genma wasn't around and had invited her over to help them plot.

"How about the ramen guy?!" Naruto suddenly shouted out, jumping over to tug at Kotetsu's pants. "He's really nice and gives us food and if Genma dated him, he would get _so many coupons_!"

"No." Kotetsu flicked the kid's nose, which made Izumo smack him upside the head.

"Don't be mean, Kotetsu." The teenager sighed, then looked down at Naruto and smiled softly. "Because he's already married, Naruto. He can't date Genma because he has a wife and daughter."

The blonde boy had been someone Kurenai had needed to get used to. But seeing him being such an adorable little kid with difficulties to understand society at times made separating him from the Nine Tailed Fox that had decimated their village years ago. Like right now... He looked up at Izumo with confusion clear in his features, head cocked slightly to the side. And it was so innocent and pure that there was no way she could see the fox inside of him.

"But what's to stop him? He could date Genma and have a wife."

"That's a conversation for a later date, Naruto!" Tenten punched him on the arm to get his attention, then turned to the rest of her friends. "We're going to have to pull out the big kunai, guys! Farmer man's been acting weird and the only way to make him feel better is to set him up with someone that truly gets him!"

"You don't mean-" Neji began, only for Shino to step forward and nod solemnly at him.

" _She does_. The perfect guy."

Quite frankly, Kurenai was more than lost at this point. But Kotetsu and Izumo both seemed to agree with the children, so she guessed that they _did_ know. So she decided to remain quiet and only offer her opinions whenever she was asked a question by the children.

* * *

"Rival! I have not seen you in-"

"No."

Genma couldn't help the small smirk that graced his lips upon seeing Guy deflate at Kakashi's indifference.

"But-"

"Nope. I'm with the kids right now, Guy. Go find yourself a new rival or something... I'm not going to complete any stupid-"

"But-"

"Guy-"

"You are my rival! You must-"

"No means no, Guy. Now-"

"But we must compete, rival! So I can defeat you! We-"

"No, Guy. Now run along and-"

"But-"

"What's going on here?!"

Genma patted Kiba's head after his outburst, then pointed at the man that had come crashing in through the window of the small restaurant they had decided to spend the afternoon in.

"This is my old teammate, Might Guy." He explained softly, stifling a yawn as tiredness pulled at him.

"And I am Ebisu."

Oh... So they were both here... Genma's yawn froze as soon as he heard the book nerd speak up, but soon finished up yawning.

Genma had found a way to ignore the aches of sorrow and pain that hit him whenever he thought of the children. He worked so hard he was left bone tired and barely able to think straight. That was the perfect way to avoid thinking clearly and contemplating about the kids inevitable departure from his life.

"He's Kakashi's self-proclaimed rival. And the other's an egg head." Then he looked over Guy and Ebisu, took note of how _little_ they had changed in the years they had passed since they had been promoted to chunin, and observed, "You know, it's odd you guys haven't met the kids until now... Where have you been the past three years?"

The one side effect to being overly tired was that his mouth and brain barely had a filter anymore. So the things he observed and usually kept quiet about to keep his appearance of being a cool guy were usually always pointed out now.

Guy blinked at him in stupefaction, straightened up from his 'Fight me now!' pose, and placed both of his hands on his hips. And Ebisu's eyebrows narrowed as he looked over at him, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Genma, have you been sleeping properly?"

The senbon enthusiast frowned at his old teammates, rolled his eyes, and turned back to Kiba. "He knows taijutsu. You can ask him to help you out."

Kiba immediately jumped at the suggestion. And after him followed Naruto (who was always eager to learn something about being a ninja) and Sakura (who wanted to learn to try and keep up with the clan kids she was surrounded by).

"And Ebisu's great with fire style, Sasuke. He could teach you about it." The Uchiha jumped towards Ebisu without any hesitation after that.

Luckily for him, his old teammates were simple men. If there was something that interested them, they paid attention to it. Especially if that thing was a group of little kids asking them to teach them about taijutsu, fire jutsu, and their own unique fighting styles.

He smiled tiredly at the sight of the three kids crowding both men, but hate for someone getting close to the children bubbled up in him once more. Genma stamped it down once more, though, knowing that this was just a natural part of life.

He was ready for when the kids left him. He knew he was. He could survive. He was sure of it.

(He wasn't. But what he knew and he wanted to admit to himself were two very different things.)

* * *

One day, as Genma dragged his feet and drank some extremely dark and strong coffee, he felt someone watching him. And when he raised his head up to languidly look over his surroundings, he found nothing unusual.

The walk to T&I was barely ever exciting. Civilians in Konoha were extremely nice and sympathy for shinobi and barely ever bothered them. And none of his fellow workers ever came in at this early hour except for Ibiki because they were insane and Inoichi allowed them to sleep in.

Raising his hand to scratch uncomfortably at the back of his neck, Genma breathed out, shook his head, and began to walk once more. He was so tired he felt like he was about to keel over. But being so tired helped him sleep without the nightmares that had decided to come back for some reason and to cope with the kids unescapable exit.

But as he continued to walk, the man felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand, letting him know that he wasn't being paranoid, there truly was someone watching him. And this made him worry slightly, seeing how he had not felt any chakra signatures following him... And he still didn't feel anything.

"Anyone out there?" He called out as he came to a full stop, turning to look behind him at the deserted path behind him.

There were nothing but trees out here. But Genma knew that, even though he was tired, his instincts were never wrong. And right now they were telling him there was someone following him.

"I swear, if it's one of you kids, you're going to get punished for skipping school." He growled in what he hoped was a threatening enough voice for any kid that might have chosen to tail him.

But nothing... Only the rustles of the leaves and branches as a gust of wind passed by.

This wasn't right. He may be too tired to think straight, but his instincts had never been wrong. He'd been taught to follow his gut and it had never led him astray.

There _was_ someone out here. They just weren't showing themselves.

"Kotetsu, if you think you're being funny..."

"Are you feeling alright, Shiranui?"

Genma did _not_ jump twenty feet in the air at suddenly hearing a gruff male voice behind him. No, he did _not_. No matter what the man behind him may have thought he'd seen, Genma _didn't_ jump.

"Careful!"

Genma's scathing hot coffee flew out of his hands before he could truly get control of himself and barely missed hitting Ibiki. Luckily, the scarred man moved just in time to not get doused in the hot liquid, leaving it to fall to the ground where it simmered before being absorbed by the ground.

The senbon enthusiast glared at the taller man as he tried to calm his racing heartbeat, all the while he tried to look as if he _hadn't_ just been surprised by him.

"You're lucky I didn't try and stab you, Ibiki. You can't sneak up on me!" Genma scolded, momentarily forgetting that Ibiki was Inoichi's second in command and one of his bosses. Soon he sighed, though, and turned to look at his coffee in lament. "That was good coffee..."

It had been a brand Bear had brought him from a mission to the Land of Coffee. And in his sleep deprived brain, the connection between Ibiki and Bear had just about been completely forgotten, leaving him to truly blame Ibiki for his spilled drink.

The man took some time to answer. But when he did, he moved so he stood in front of Genma and forced him to look up at him at not at his spilled coffee anymore.

"Genma, I asked you once, I'll ask you again;" Ibiki spoke up with a serious scowl, covered arms crossed over his broad chest. "Are you feeling alright?"

Genma blinked slowly at him, then nodded, "Yeah, of course I'm f-" He was cut off, though, by a yawn.

That was the last straw for Ibiki.

"Go home."

"What?" The younger of the two look up at him, sleep slowly leaving him to be replaced by alertness and defensiveness. "Ibiki, I'm fine. And I've got a job to do."

"You _need_ to sleep, Shiranui." Ibiki frowned back at him, eyes stern with determination. "You can't do a good job if you're jumping at any sound that surprises you."

"You came out of _nowhere_." Genma hissed back, then rolled his eyes and waved him off. "I'm going to work."

He stepped around Ibiki and walked away from him with a displeased frown clear on his face. Not only because of that foul meeting with the younger man... But also because the mug he had been drinking from had been the one Ino had brought him... And, like a fool, he'd left it behind in his fit of anger.

* * *

"This is getting ridiculous. Shiranui's going to get himself killed, Inoichi. You've got to force him to rest."

The Yamanaka clan head sighed at Shikaku's words, looking at his friend regretfully. "His work has been stellar up to this point. He has showed no signs of sluggishness in the workplace and has yet to cause any harm to either himself or his fellow shinobi while at T&I. If I were to force him into a vacation, he wouldn't return to work. He'd just go to the Hokage and ask to be sent off on A or S-Ranks."

The parents had all come together to discuss the matter that was their kids main caretaker. Genma Shiranui had become something much greater and much more important in their lives than any of them had ever foreseen.

And now they were forced to see him wither away for reasons none of them knew.

"Well we can't just let him continue like this." Chouza frowned at both of his old teammates, and his wife finished for him, "He's clearly been losing weight. He hasn't been eating properly."

"You heard Morino, Inoichi. Their encounter in the forest was less than stellar." Tsume groused with her arms crossed firmly over her chest, eyes glaring dagger at the blonde man. "Hell, you were there to see it!"

Inoichi leveled the woman with an almost disinterested stare before Hiashi spoke up, grabbing the attention of the parents.

"The fact that Genma Shiranui is important in our lives is undeniable. And to leave him to follow this path of self destruction would only help in harming our children. We must do something and we must do it fast. Our children's actions by acting out in school are reflecting Genma's own mood and I believe it is only a matter of time before our hand is forced."

Being shinobi, they all understood what Hiashi meant. And, even though they were only civilians, both Sakura's mother and father knew what the Hyuga was hinting at, even though none of them wanted to speak it out loud.

A ninja on a path of self destruction was a ninja that could not perform properly. A ninja unable to take care of himself was a ninja that could not serve his village.

"But what are we to do?" Shibi questioned, looking directly at Hiashi. "We have run out of ideas. Leaving him to deal with this himself was ineffective and even his old teammates were unable to speak sense into him. If he didn't listen to them, he isn't going to listen to Chouza either... None of his friends are able to get through to him either... All that is left is the children."

Tense and uncertain silence filled the meeting room in the Hokage's compound after the Aburame's words. All of the adults understood the gravity of the situation with the young man. And all worried for what was to happen next.

"Maybe..." Shikaku murmured, eyebrows narrowed in thought. "That's all we need."

All of the adults turned to look at him in confusion. But he merely looked up at them with a determined frown. "Let me speak to those two chunin he hangs around with; Kotetsu and Izumo. I think they know more about what's going on than we may think."

(In the end, Shikaku was right to believe Kotetsu and Izumo would be able to help Genma... It was just in a way that he never would have expected.)

* * *

"Let's go to the Hokage Heads, Gen-Gen!"

Genma yawned deeply as his hand was tugged by Kiba, but patted his head with his other and shrugged.

"Alright... Are you and the boys dressed?"

The boys had been the ones to stay over this Friday night. The girls had decided to have a 'girls only' sleepover at Sakura's house, leaving him to take care of seven rambunctious children.

Blinking at the thought, Genma noted that, no, they had _not_ been rambunctious. If anything, they had been little angels... They hadn't fought, had barely screamed, and had played peacefully.

As soon as he took note of this, he went on high alert.

"Scarecrow, are you coming with us?" Naruto questioned as he walked into the living room, dressed and ready for the day.

Kakashi was laying down on his couch with Shikamaru resting over his back. But when the blonde finished the question, the man gave a reply that was muffled by the couch cushions. Genma frowned softly at the lack of proper answer, but soon sighed when the man raised a thumbs up to show that he would be accompanying them.

"Alright. I'll pack up some food and water and we'll be able to go."

~/~

If there was something odd about how the boys acted during the night, then there was something purely _out of character_ about how they acted as they walked towards the Hokage Heads.

They weren't trying to run away. They weren't trying to enter weapons shop. And they weren't trying to swindle Kakashi out of money. The boys were actually behaving and keeping pace with Genma, not trying to run up even though he could see they were clearly excited to get to their destination.

He didn't know what they were planning, but he was not sure if he would like to see it come to fruition.

He honestly had half a mind to leave them alone with Kakashi and just spend the day hiding in Iwashi's apartment.

What if today was the day they finally told him they didn't need him anymore? He didn't think he could-

"We're close!"

Genma faltered for a second and stopped walking altogether. What if this was it? Could he really go through with it? Could he survive with finally being told that the children had outgrown him?

He... He wasn't ready for this... He wasn't strong enough for this...

"Come on, Genma." Kakashi wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him up the stairs to the heads before Genma could try and tell them that he didn't want to face what they had prepared.

Because even though they hadn't said a thing, he was sure that there was something waiting for him at the top of the heads that he wasn't prepared for. And his instincts were _never_ wrong.

"Come on, Farmer man! This'll be so cool!" Kiba smiled broadly as he jumped ahead, followed closely by Naruto.

Shino nodded softly, "It has been a long time coming, Kiba."

Those words sent an icy spike through Genma's very _being_.

But his legs were moving of their own accord. He was being pulled forward by Kakashi and his legs were refusing to listen to his brain. They just went along with the external force upon them, left, right, one after the other.

Genma breathed in to try and calm his racing heart.

Maybe he was overreacting. Yeah, that sounded right. The kids would never take him to such an important place to throw him to the wayside. They weren't cruel like that. No matter what others may say, these kids were amazing and caring. They would never be so mean.

But that conversation he had heard so long ago... Someone so perfect: loved kids and having fun, no clan affiliations for any kind of favoritism... The perfect person to take care of the children now that they had outgrown him.

He wasn't perfect. And the kids had finally seen that.

When they were about to reach the top, a cold chill took over his whole body. "Uh, kids, I'm not feeling all that hot..." Somehow, the words managed to tumble coherently out of his mouth, even as he tried to keep this freak out he wanted to free hidden deep within himself. "You wouldn't mind staying with Scarecrow? I think it'll be good for me to-"

"Oh, come on, Genma..." Shikamaru sighed from behind him, "You'll love this. I'm sure of it. And we Nara are barely ever wrong."

What he would love about being kicked to the curb by the children wasn't clear to Genma. But he was soon being pulled forward by Kiba, Naruto, and Kakashi, all the while Sasuke and Shino pushed him forward.

"Seriously, kids,"

"Trust us, Genma!" Naruto interrupted him, "You'll love this!"

"Please believe in us, Genma-nii-san." Neji smiled back at him from the front of the group, "We are sure you will enjoy this."

His breathing was bordering hyperventilation. But Genma did his best to force his chest to slow and for his body to not show how much he wanted to freak out at the moment. It wouldn't do good for the kids to see him like that, after all. He needed to stay strong for them.

If... If they thought he would love seeing them happy without him... Then he'd have to put on a brave face.

 _For the kids_.

"A-Alright..." He smiled sadly, tears pricking at his eyes.

But he just allowed himself to be taken to the top of the stairs, accepting his fate.

He had known this would eventually happen... And what was so bad about it? He'd just have to adjust his life for what must have been the hundredth time since he had become a genin... Nothing new...

When they were near the top, Genma closed his eyes and took in a big breath to steel his harrowed nerves.

And when he was finally allowed to stop walking, he took a few seconds... Then he opened them...

...

... ...

... ... ...

"Uh... Is that Bear with a bouquet of flowers?"

This... What he saw was nothing he had expected.

"Gen-Gen! You finally made it!"

Genma blinked in stupefaction as four incredibly well dressed girls ran up to him, smiles broad and eyes bright.

"Welcome to your date with Bear! We will be your waitresses for the day." Tenten was dressed in a waitress type outfit, complete with apron and pad of paper.

The rest of the girls were dressed in their finest dresses (which Genma knew were their finest because he had been forced to learn this kind of thing for all of the activities he went to for all of the kids) and looked rather beautiful and extremely excited.

Bear stood awkwardly by a table that had been placed a few feet away from the stairs, complete with a candle at its very center and two chairs facing each other.

Kurenai and Itachi (when had he gotten back from his month long mission?) sat to Bear's right, playing their violins.

"Kids..." Genma looked back at Bear, then at the two playing a soft song, over at the table with the red table cloth, and finally down at the girls in front of him before looking back at Bear. "Are you trying to set me up?"

"That is _exactly_ what we're doing, Gen-Gen!" Sakura answered in a moment of pure confidence, something that Genma had not come to expect from the pink haired girl. "You need someone to leave. And because Kurenai and Junko weren't up to your tastes, we guessed Bear would be just right."

"Just... Right..." He repeated dumbly, then glanced down at Hinata when she tugged at his hand.

"W-We wa-want you t-to be ha-happy, G-Genma-ni-nii-s-san." She stuttered out, face red and eyes wide.

"Yeah. And Bear's the perfect guy for you." Ino spoke up then, "Nice, likes kids, respects your life, and gives us snacks... You deserve to be happy together."

"P-Perfect guy?"

Could this...

Genma closed his eyes and allowed the combination of relief and embarrassment crash into him as soon as he heard this.

That conversation he had listened in on... It had been about setting him up... Not about leaving him behind.

"You kids..." Genma smiled at all of them and was about to wrap them up in a tight hug when Kakashi's raucous laughter suddenly broke through his relief.

"Wait, this was the reason why Genma was so terrified? Because you kids wanted to set him up?!" The man laughed at the situation, visible eye closed because of how amusing he found the whole thing. "And with _Bear_?! Of all people! Why not Raidou or me, while you're at it? We'll be good for the mother hen!"

It had been a rather beautiful moment. Genma had never felt more relieved or prouder of the kids before. But Kakashi had decided to open up his big mouth and destroy the whole thing.

"Are you really laughing at this, Hatake?" Bear questioned from the table, sending the silver haired bastard into yet another fit of laughter.

But after a few seconds of glaring at him, Genma motioned for all of the kids to come towards him. "Kids... You didn't have to do this. I don't need a love life."

"But you deserve to be happy, Genma-nii-san." Neji rebutted, which made the man sigh and pat his head.

"And I thank you for caring about me so much... But I don't need to date someone to be happy. You don't have to force Bear to date me just to make me happy." He looked over at them before turning to Bear, "And you don't have to allow yourself to be roped into their plans."

The masked man nodded, then shrugged, "They were worried about you... And this was the only thing they thought might help."

They were worried... Because of how stupid he'd been acting recently... He was an _idiot._

"How did I get lucky enough to take care of such wonderful children?" He asked them before kneeling down and throwing his arms out to ask for a giant group hug.

"Farmer man!"

"Gen-Gen!"

"We love you!"

"Don't ever be sad again. Or we'll make Bear kiss you!"

"Yeah, and he'll do it! He listens to us!"

The threats and promises continued as the kids jumped on him to hug him tightly. And Genma only laughed and nodded, promising that he would never drift away from them ever again.

As they hugged, Genma felt three more presences appear. And soon he heard Kotetsu whine.

"We missed it! Damn it, Lord Nara! We told you we knew what we were doing!"

"Izumo, be respectful! He's the Jonin leader!"

"I don't give a damn! All of our hard work, Izumo: Down the drain! All because this Nara weirdo with a pineapple head wanted us to tell him how to make Genma better, even though we already knew what we were doing!"

Genma looked over at the new arrivals and found Kotetsu fuming and pouting, Izumo looking ashamed and embarrassed, and Shikaku surprised at the sight of him being hugged by all of the kids.

But he had caught on to Kotetsu's words.

"Make me better?" He questioned, then looked directly at the Nara. "Shikaku, what's he talking about?"

The slippery bastard left before answering. And because he was currently trapped under a mountain of kids, Genma wasn't able to chase after him. But Kotetsu quickly questioned if their plan had worked, letting Genma know just who it was that had enabled the children to come up with the plans that had almost destroyed his life.

(He never did get an answer to his question.)

(Damn Nara.)

..~..~..

So... This came out angstier than I had initially thought it would be... But I hope you all liked it. I'm counting it as an early Valentine's Day fic because of all of the love talk involved.

Please review and tell me what y'all think!


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter 10: How it All Came Crashing Down:_ Genma's twenty fourth year of life was filled with many changes. Most good. Some interesting. But a few... Even with how little those bad moments were, they were just _bad_... Genma had not believed any of the kids were capable of anything worse than maybe a mean spirited prank. None of them, not the Academy age kids, not Itachi, not Kotetsu, not Izumo, not Iwashi, not Hayate... None of them... But he was proved wrong. And he was left devastated.

..~..~..

"Quick, Iwashi, flank Itachi! We can't let him got close to us!"

Genma smiled softly as he watched the children and teenagers play capture the flag. For once he was allowed to take a rest from the rest of the children. But he had a sneaking suspicion that he was only allowed to rest because Iwashi, Hana, Itachi, Kotetsu, and Izumo were all around to be able to play with the children and take his place.

They were celebrating their birthdays once more. It was July and Sasuke and Itachi were the happiest Genma had ever seen. Kiba was usually always happy, but now he seemed a little bit more because of the fact that his team was winning the game. And Neji, whom they had not been able to see recently, was overjoyed at finally being able to be around his friends once more.

"Itachi, don't let yourself get caught!" Kiba barked as he chased after Naruto, who had his team's flag. "Kotetsu, stop playing around with Shino and help Itachi out!"

The wild haired teenager looked up from his spot throwing Shino up into the air to then catch him. And when he noticed how close Iwashi was to grabbing Itachi's flag, he placed the Aburame down on the ground, patted his head, and ran off to support his teammate.

"Oh, Kotetsu..." Inoichi shook his head softly as he watched the teenager rush off, then glanced over at Shibi. "He really has taken quite the shine to Shino."

The Aburame clan head nodded softly, although he kept his sunglass covered gaze on the field the kids were using for their game. "I am amazed that Shino was able to make such a friend, if I can tell the truth. Especially in someone like Kotetsu. But they treat each other like brothers... It is quite amazing, really."

Genma had never felt so content before. Sitting there with the rest of the parents as they watched the kids play... Well, it made him feel like he truly was part of a family.

"I'm just surprised of how much those two have integrated into our lives." Choza remarked as he crossed his arms over his chest, focusing on Chouji as the kid ran defense for Naruto. "Chouji loves Izumo. And he has asked on more than one occasion if we can adopt him."

"Adopt him?" Shikaku quirked an eyebrow at his friend, even though Genma wasn't all that surprised.

This wasn't the first time he heard about the kids wanting to adopt their older friends. Iwashi, Kotetsu, and Izumo had all been subjected to the kids' puppy dog eyes as they asked if Genma could adopt them. And while it was pretty adorable to see the three teenagers fumble around and grasp for an answer that wouldn't hurt the kids' feelings, it was also kind of tiring trying to explain to them why they couldn't be adopted.

"Shino asked the same for Kotetsu. And when I told him that he didn't have the requirements to truly be an Aburame, he asked if we could give him his own hive to be protected on missions."

Genma smirked upon hearing this, then turned to the parents. "Sounds like something Shino would ask."

Hiashi quirked an eyebrow at him, "You are not surprised by this? Then you surely must have heard how Neji and Hinata both wish for Iwashi to become Hanabi's guardian."

This, though, was new. Genma blinked over at the Hyuga, slightly stunned, then sighed and smiled softly.

It was no secret that Hanabi's birth had been difficult for the clan head. He now joined Inoichi and Shibi in the ranks of single parents, for his wife had died from complications during their youngest's birth. And it had been difficult for Hiashi to cope, retracting into the Hyuga clan and taking Neji and Hinata with him. But he was slowly getting better and was making a true effort to move on. He could have easily ignored the birthday invitation and forced his nephew to spend his birthday alone. But he was here and interacting with others. Genma could appreciate strength when he saw it, and Hiashi was truly trying.

"That is new." He relented, but soon shrugged. "Although it wouldn't surprise me all that much. I think these kids take turns deciding on who they want to be part of their clans. I'm amazed, though, that Kiba has yet to try and bring anyone into the Inuzuka clan."

Tsume, though, smirked over at him with a knowing glint in her uniquely shaped eyes. "That's what you think, Shiranui."

From her words, Genma knew that Tsume knew something he didn't. But before he could ask her what she meant, the young baby in his arms cooing at him and grasping up at her with her tiny hands took up his attention.

Hanabi Hyuga was just as adorable as Hinata Hyuga. But, unlike Hinata, Genma was actually able to see her as a months old baby. And unlike many other babies he had been unfortunate enough to deal with in his life, she barely ever cried. There was a spark of intelligence in Hanabi's eyes that reminded him a lot of Neji. But her name just made him wonder if this kid would be as calm and docile as either her cousin or older sister.

He had a sneaking suspicion that her mother, before death ultimately took her, named the girl in such a manner to try and make her become the fun loving chaos to Hinata's fun loving calm.

"Hanabi likes you." Hiashi's voice was just above a whisper, suddenly sounding rather far and distant. Genma turned to look at him and took note of his emotionless face, "She must be a good judge of character."

The mood around the adults became heavy because of Hiashi's words. Genma understood the true severity of what Hiashi was saying and his throat soon closed up with guilt.

Hiashi truly did love his wife. There were no doubts in Genma's mind. Even though he had only seen the woman a handful of times, there was no denying the love to be found in Hiashi's eyes when he looked at her. And now that she was gone, he was trying to pick up pieces of a life he most probably wasn't even sure of how to put back together.

"Just like the rest of your kids, Hiashi." Tsume spoke softly as she laid a hand on the Hyuga's shoulder, prompting him to look and see her uncharacteristically soft smile. "Now, how about some betting? I bet Kiba's team kicks ass."

Kiba took after his mother, no doubt about it. He was an observant little thing that could sniff out all emotions and try and help with them. But once he'd given his two scents of helpfulness, he was back to being crass and hyperactive. Much like Tsume.

From his spot at the edge of the clearing that was Training Ground 18, one that he had used in his genin days along with Choza, Guy, and Ebisu, Genma could see the children giving the game of capture the flag their all. And he was rather proud to say that none of them seemed likely to give up without making sure to try their best.

"Look, rival! A most youthful game of capture the flag! We must join-"

"Guy, would you please stop shouting? I have a headache coming on and I've only been around you for a few minutes."

"You're actually asking Guy to stop? Have you ever been around him, Raidou? Because I'm starting to think you haven't."

Genma looked behind him to the last of those invited to the joint birthday party as they argued. Guy was carrying a large birthday gift that hid most of his upper body, including his head. Ebisu, though, was carrying four small bags in his hands, clearly having been less extravagant about his gifts than Guy. Kakashi, Kurenai, and Raidou all lagged behind them, Kakashi with his hands clasped behind his head while Raidou had his own shoved into his pockets and Kurenai carried small gift bags. And, surprisingly, behind them came Hayate, a kid he'd seen Iwashi with a few times. He was carrying four boxes, all of different sizes and wrapping paper.

"Shut up, Hatake." Raidou growled, then turned to look forward and found Genma's gaze. "Happy birthday, Mother Hen."

For once, the nickname wasn't used mockingly. It was said with a kind of comfort and ease that had slowly begun to come back to the scarred man's life. And Genma couldn't help the small smile he flashed his friend, getting up from the floor slowly so he didn't jar the baby in his arms. But once he was up, he made his way towards the newcomers and smiled at them all.

"Thank you all for coming to our shared birthday bash." He zeroed in on Hayate, who shuffled his feet somewhat awkwardly while his eyes remained on the floor. And, for what felt like the fiftieth time in his life, Genma felt the need to bring this kid into his fold as well. "Hayate, right?"

The kid was Iwashi's age, yet skinner and had extremely dark bags under his eyes that immediately made Genma feel like forcing him into a bed. But he stopped himself and allowed the kid to answer to not seem like a completely insane person.

"Uh... Y-yes, sir." He nodded rapidly, then looked down at the gifts in his hands. "Iwashi and I picked these out..." He murmured, then looked up at Genma, waiting for him to answer.

"Thank you, kid." He smiled as comfortingly as he could, then pointed over to the stack of gifts that had been created by the parents leaving the gifts on a blanket a few feet away from them. "You can put them over there if you'd like. That goes for you, Kurenai, and Guy too, Ebisu."

Ebisu nodded and began to quietly make his way towards the pile with the style and silence he loved to portray himself with. Kurenai followed after having nodded softly over at Genma, still somewhat new to the friends had managed to make in the past few years. Guy, on the other hand, took off running and just about bowled over both Hayate, Kurenai, and Ebisu, racing against the three in his own mind.

Genma smiled after his over eager friend, then walked back towards the parents while Hanabi began to tug at the pockets on his vest. She looked up at him with slightly narrowed pale eyes and Genma handed her over to her father, who took her with a small bit of hesitation. But once the child curled herself into his chest and closed her eyes, Genma could see the pride in Hiashi's eyes. And he knew then that the Hyuga family would get through the loss of their matriarch.

~/~

"Bear! Quick! Give Genma a kiss to make him fall in love with you!"

Genma suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at Tenten's shout as walked towards the table that held the large birthday cake Chouji's mother had preferred for the shared birthday party.

Bear looked down at the little girl and raised his hand to pat on her head.

"He already explained that he does not wish for a relationship, Tenten."

"That means nothing!" Ino gasped out, running up to hug the large man around his left leg. "He wants to be loved! He just doesn't know it yet!"

The kids were coming over to the table after having completed their third round of capture the flag. Bear had been off on a mission and had not been able to join until now, but that had not stopped the kids fun. And the fact that Guy, Raidou, and Hayate all joined the game sure hadn't hurt the fun they had experienced.

"She's right, you know." Shikamaru drawled as he dragged his feet all the way from the field, sporting a few bruises from where Ino had smacked him for having been lazy and having tried to avoid playing with them. "Genma needs love. You're perfect for him. You're both too stupid to see it."

Quite frankly, Genma had heard this conversation so many times already that he wasn't upset by it anymore. Sure, it was still embarrassing how the kids insisted on playing matchmaker. But Bear didn't seem too bothered by the kids trying to push them together. And while he was comfortable, Genma wouldn't demand the kids to stop.

"Shikamaru, since when do you pay attention to romance?" His mother asked curiously as she stood up to go to her son, a moist towel in her hands.

Genma smirked at the disgusted look the young Nara sent the cloth; even though he was called the mother hen, he wasn't nearly as protective of the kids as the other mothers. They just didn't spend as much time around them to show their true colors at all times.

"Go away, mom..." The Nara battled lazily against his mother's hands, "Dad, grab your woman."

Shikaku, though, just continued to laze around with Kakashi, eyes closed even though there was a small smirk on his lips.

"Respect your mother, you jerk!" Ino smacked Shikamaru upside the head, causing his glare to turn onto her, which allowed Yoshino to finally wipe at the mud that had caked his skin.

"Women are insane!"

Genma knew that to be a fact. But the women that were there did not take kindly to the shout and scolded the young Nara. And after he had gotten his ear chewed out by all the woman, Shikamaru hid behind Chouji, trying to stay away from getting into any more trouble because of his mouth. Chouji in the meanwhile just looked back at his friend in confusion.

~/~

"Your apartment... Do you not consider it a bit too small for the children?"

Genma glanced up from the wrapping paper he was picking up to find Hiashi standing behind him, looking over his apartment with wandering eyes. He had offered to stay behind and help clean up while Neji, Hinata, and Naruto played a bit in Genma's room. Hanabi was sleeping in Bear's arms, all the while the man watched over the three kids and made sure they didn't get into any fights.

He had noticed this a long time ago. Back in Tenten and Sakura's first shared birthday, really. His apartment was supposed to be a bachelor's pad, created for only one, maybe two people. Not eleven children and too many shinobi to count.

There had been a reason why they had celebrated today's shared birthday in the Training Grounds instead of in his place, after all.

"It's... _Cozy._ " Genma smiled up at the man as he straightened up from the floor, hands curled around pieces of paper he wanted to throw away. "Although the kids may outgrow it in a couple of years."

"Are you not wondering if you should buy yourself a new apartment?"

Genma walked towards the trash to throw away the papers, then turned to Hiashi with a small shrug. "Not really. I don't have the money for it at the moment. But I'm fine the way I am. And the kids still are able to fit in here. The day they crash through a window because of how small it is, though, I'll begin to think about maybe moving out."

Hiashi's face was emotionless as he moved to pick up the glasses left around his counter, but before the conversation could continue, Itachi and Sasuke walked in through his front door and asked if they could stay the night.

"Of course. Why do you even feel like you have to ask?" Genma smiled as he walked towards the two, ruffling their heads. "I know you're supposed to be polite Uchiha, but you can be regular kids in here, yeah? It'll be our little secret."

"Awesome! Come on, Itachi, let's go find the rest and have some fun!"

"We are supposed to _sleep over_ , brother, not continue playing."

Genma smirked after the two as they began to banter on their way to his room.

These kids were just too cute sometimes. Even the older ones.

* * *

A new school year had begun and the children had adapted much better and smoother than the past year.

Apparently, Iruka Sensei was becoming bolder with what he taught and the games he allowed the children to play. Which meant that the kids loved to talk about him and the awesome things they had done in class, even though Naruto and Kiba both had an aversion for homework.

Genma had already lost count of how many times he'd been forced to chase after the two mongrels to sit them down so they could finally finish the homework the rest of their friends had completed.

"Alright, kiddos! Time for you to learn how to skip out of class!"

"Kotetsu!"

"What? We used to do it all the time back in the Academy, Zumo."

" _You_ used to do that all the time! And it's a miracle you were able to graduate!"

Genma rolled his eyes at the bickering teens, left the papers he had been reading over on his bed, and walked out of his room. Outside he found all of the kids seated silently, intently looking up at Kotetsu as Izumo glared at him.

"You're _not_ teaching these kids how to get away from their classes, Kotetsu." Genma frowned minutely as he crossed his arms over his chest, then glanced down at the kids. "Now you kids, get to work on your homework. I don't need your parents on my case because you got distracted by these two bad influences."

Izumo scoffed at being insulted. Kotetsu bristled. And Chouji just raised his arm to ask, "When's the food going to be ready?"

Genma and Kotetsu began to cook after that. Usually Izumo would be the one to help the senbon enthusiast. But seeing how Kotetsu was dead set on showing the kids how to escape the Academy when the lessons were too boring (even though they weren't older than nine), they decided it would be best for Izumo to entertain them and Kotetsu to cook.

(It took Kotetsu a while. But eventually he taught Kiba and Naruto how to do it. And after a while, it spread to the rest of the children.)

* * *

Itachi had seen too much... Done too much... Genma had stood to the side and watched Itachi go through the very route he wished none of the kids he took care of ever had to go through... And all he'd done was sit to the sidelines and offer a safe haven in his home. But it seemed, now, that it hadn't been enough to save him from the dark thoughts that were almost a requirement for the shinobi life.

He'd come back after a particularly harsh mission tonight. And instead of going back to his clan like he was supposed to, the kid had woken him up in the middle of the night. His clothes and hair were disheveled and his face was lit with emotions. Dark, twisted ones that let Genma know the mission had done more than just made him leave his village for a few days.

"If something were to happen to my whole clan, Genma-san, would you take care of Sasuke?"

Genma was more than surprised by the younger's question. But his surprise softened when he saw the pure worry in his eyes, then nodded slowly. "Of course I'd take care of Sasuke... Eleven part time isn't all that hard. And who knows how many kids I take care of if you count the older guys..." But Genma sighed softly, "Taking care of one full time doesn't seem like a daunting task, Itachi."

The tension in the Uchiha's shoulders spoke of how truly uncomfortable the boy was. But his eyes were narrowed in determination and Genma believed he saw a glimpse of the resolve that had helped him get so far in his shinobi career in so little time.

"Genma-san, if you were given an order you were not sure of being just... What would you do?" Itachi's voice was heavy with confusion and trust.

And Genma knew at this moment that Itachi Uchiha truly did trust him. Not only was he wishing for him to take care of Sasuke- his prized little brother- if anything ever happened to him, but he was also asking something that may get him in trouble if asked to the wrong person.

Genma's heart swelled at these implications, but he sighed and shook his head softly.

"Quite frankly, Itachi... I've been lucky enough to never have to face that question in my life." Genma admitted regretfully, but looked over to the kid sitting beside him and raised his hand so it was holding on to his shoulder. "But look inside of your heart. Weigh the options. If it ends up being for the better of the village..."

This wasn't an easy question to answer. But Itachi needed to be told something concrete.

"Back when the Nine Tails attacked, I was part of the Fourth's bodyguard squad. My job was to keep him safe. But his job was to keep the village safe. Often times, we'd butt heads over who was supposed to remain safe and who was protecting who." A wistful yet sorrowful smile made its way onto Genma's lips as he remembered the head strong blonde he'd tried to protect all those years ago. Then he looked Itachi directly in the eyes, "During the attack on the village, I was told to help evacuate civilians from danger zones. Iwashi, Raidou, and I; whom were all the Hokage's bodyguards; did our best to keep civilians safe."

He stopped talking then, flashes of his past forcing their way into his vision. He could remember all of the destruction he had witnessed, all the pain he had been forced to see. Buildings crushed as if mere toys. People decimated to a point that they were barely recognizable.

Then Itachi broke him out of his memories. "That does not seem all that difficult, Genma-san. You were doing your jobs."

"Yes, but no." Genma patted Itachi's head softly for a moment, then explained himself. "My job, first and foremost, was to keep the Hokage safe. But he commanded us to help in evacuation, to help keep the village safe. And as I followed his orders, I defied the ones that I should have listened to. He died that day and none of his bodyguards were with him to even try to protect him."

Explaining this all to the kid felt extremely personal. Maybe that was because he hadn't spoken about the Fourth ever since he had died, a whole six years. Or maybe it was because he was finally voicing the regrets that had been tearing him apart since his death.

Whatever the reason was, Genma knew that Itachi was the best person to tell this to. The kid was smart and understood the importance of duty. And he was in a place that made him doubt his position as a ninja.

Back when he'd first met Itachi, he'd wondered if he could help the kid out. Now, three years later, all he wanted to do was to make him smile and look like a little kid once more. He was much too young to look so old.

"What one is ordered to do and what one _should do_ don't always coincide." Genma murmured, then wrapped his arm around Itachi's shoulders to bring him into a one-armed hug. "But the only person that can decide which is more important to go through with is _you_ , Itachi. No matter what, you are still a person. Even though you're a ninja, you're not some thoughtless weapon. And nobody can take away you're right to think for yourself."

The kid looked up at him with wide eyes for a few seconds before wrapping both arms tightly around Genma's waist, "Thank you so much, Genma-san... I... I know what I am to do now."

Genma was stunned by the hug. But he quickly returned it, wrapping his other arm around the Uchiha before patting his head. "Good, kid." It still amused him to no end to see that Itachi wore his hitai-ite on a bandanna much like him. "You know I'm available for heavy conversations at all times. Although I don't mind having some fun every now and then."

It was an offhanded comment to bring some good humor into the heavy atmosphere. And it did just what Genma wanted it to do, for it made Itachi smile up at him before nodding.

"Understood, Genma-san."

He had a good feeling about this talk. Itachi seemed more sure than ever. And it brought a large smile to Genma's face to have been the one to help him come to his conclusions.

(The ninja in Genma kind of wanted to know what had troubled Itachi enough to make him worry about his whole clan. But he'd just let the issue lie, feeling like Itachi would tell him if ever he truly needed to know.)

(He should have known better.)

* * *

"I am not adopting Izumo or Kotetsu."

"What about Iwashi?"

Genma sighed at Neji's question, but soon shook his head. "No, Neji."

"Alright... Maybe Lord Hiashi will allow him to become Hanabi's guardian."

The adult Hyuga quirked an eyebrow at his nephew but said nothing as he stirred the pot of noodles over Genma's stove.

The Hyuga had begun to come around more often recently. He wished to spend more time around his children and tried his best to leave clan business behind when he came over. He had never explained himself to Genma, but he hadn't needed to. Genma knew what a coping mechanism was when he saw it. And who was he to take it away when Hiashi was beginning to get better?

"How about Hayate? Can you adopt him?" Sakura questioned as she walked up to Genma, her hands full of the notebooks she used for her classes.

Ever since the teenager had gone to Genma's birthday party, he'd found himself with admirers. Of course, said admirers were only six and seven years old, but it was adorable to see Hinata and Sakura fawn over the kid. And it was pretty funny to see him falter over everything he did because he wasn't sure how to truly react around young girls.

"No, I'm not going to adopt Hayate either. Don't you have lessons to review?"

The girl squeaked and grabbed Neji's hand, hurriedly asking him to help her understand the math questions she couldn't understand. The Hyuga didn't seem like he wanted to leave, but he quickly went when Ino appeared and asked for him to help them out.

"They are serious about Iwashi becoming Hanabi's guardian." Hiashi commented once the kids were gone, which made Genma turn to him.

Ever since their small talk after the shared birthday in July, Hiashi had become a regular at his apartment. And it was kind of pleasant to have the man come around every now and then. He helped keep the kids calm and sometimes even went ahead and taught them some beginner taijutsu moves.

At first, the children had not known how to react to Hiashi. He was a serious man that carried himself with pride, and they, as kids, were unsure if they were supposed to act like themselves around him. Because Hiashi was unlike the rest of the men and women they usually had fun with. But, after some time, they had managed to become accustomed to his presence. And even though they couldn't really run around him like they normally would with the likes of Bear, Kakashi, and Raidou, they still were comfortable around him and didn't really shy away from him so much anymore.

"They wish for her to be protected by someone they trust. And because Neji is currently Hinata's guardian, and in school, he cannot protect Hanabi. They must think that Iwashi is a skillful shinobi if they want him for such a job."

His smirk was loose as he walked towards the refrigerator to grab the meat they would be cooking for the meal. "Well, you are more than aware of that. He told me about that mission you two went on some time ago."

"It was a _long_ time ago, Shiranui." The Hyuga mumbled, stopped stirring, then placed the large spoon beside the pot. "I had still been on active duty back then... And it was during the war, actually..."

He was lost in a memory. Genma could see that from the way his pale eyes glazed over. But after allowing Hiashi a moment, Genma spoke up, "Feels like a lifetime ago, huh?"

"I had not been married by then..."

His tone was solemn. But after a moment of silence, Genma closed the refrigerator's door and placed a soft hand on the man's shoulder. "Have I ever told you about the time Neji and Tenten broken into my senbon collection and tried to get Kakashi to take off his mask with threats?"

It was good to speak about issues that were weighing on one's mind. But there was a haunting clear in Hiashi's eyes and a weight pulling his shoulders down. Even though Hiashi clearly wanted to speak, there was something holding him back. And sometimes it hurt more to speak than to keep the pain inside.

"No, you have not." The man blinked in surprise and amazement, "Neji threatened Kakashi?"

"Of course he did." Genma smiled broadly, then moved over to the counter beside Hiashi to begin to cook up the meat. "Would you like to tell me about it?"

The rest of the evening was spent with Genma telling Hiashi about his nephew's and daughter's adventures with his friends. And after that, once dinner had been prepared and served, all of the kids sat down to eat and tell both Genma and Hiashi about anything that came to their minds.

Genma had never been prouder of the kids' ability to make anyone and everyone smile.

* * *

"Genma! Open up! God damn it man, _open!_ "

Loud pounding at his front door awoke Genma in the middle of the night. The man groggily noted that the voice was Kotetsu's and he slowly extracted himself from his bed, and he began to get up sluggishly.

"Please open up, Farmer man!"

All traces of tiredness, though, vanished as soon as Shino's voice began to call out to him, immediately alerting him to something being wrong. The man wasted no time running towards his front door and threw it open, for once not caring about it slamming against his wall.

Before him stood Shino in his pajamas, without his customary sunglasses, and tears streaming down his cheeks. And Kotetsu's own face was one of pure panic, eyes wide and terrified, his breathing bordering on erratic.

"They took him! They took him and I don't know what to do!"

"Gen, they took Torune! They took my brother!"

Both males were blubbering messes. And Genma was at a loss as to who he should have comforted first. But he soon made up his mind and crouched down to pick Shino up, hugging him tightly to his body. And the Aburame immediately clung to him, sobbing into the crook of his neck.

"Who?" He questioned, looking Kotetsu directly in the eyes. "Who took Torune?"

There were tears in the teenager's eyes... And blood all over his uniform.

Genma's eyes narrowed at the sight of the covered injuries, "Kotetsu, you're hurt."

"That doesn't matter!" The teen immediately bristled at the observation, then jabbed his finger in the direction behind him. "They were going to take Shino and Torune! I was able to fight and save Shino but..." His shouting became a haunted whisper, eyes glazing over and becoming unfocused.

"They took my brother! Please help me, Genma!"

Shino's sobs broke Genma's heart. But he couldn't help him if he was a mess like Kotetsu. So he snapped into full on mission mode, snapping his left hand's fingers in front of Kotetsu to force him to focus back on him, "Where did you encounter these guys and where did they go?"

"Outside the Aburame Compound..." The man whispered out, one tear slipping out of his eye. "Genma, they took Torune! They took him and were going to take Shino and I wasn't good enough to protect both and this is all on-"

Kotetsu would be of no use to him if he was crying. And the teenager was seconds away from falling into a complete panic attack. So Genma did the only thing he was able to think of and slapped him across the face as hard as he could, forcing his head to the snap to the side.

"Get a hold of yourself, Kotetsu!" He barked out with a glare, "You're useless if you're freaking out like some genin!"

For a second, Genma worried that he had been wrong in slapping him, for Kotetsu did not look back him and his face remained hidden by the shadows cast through the little amount of lighting at his doorway. But then Kotetsu turned back to look at him with a determined scowl clear on his face and he allowed himself a small breath of relief.

"We should be able to track them down if we go to the scene of the kidnapping." Genma informed both, turning to grab the pack of senbon he had hidden inside of the highest shelf of his bookcase, "There's no time to get dressed. Kidnappings like these are tight on time. And if we want any chance of getting Torune back, we have to hurry."

Kotetsu nodded, "Come on! I'm not letting those bastards get away."

"Neither am I!"

Genma was proud that Shino was such a brave kid. And he nodded towards him, then moved him so he was on his back rather that his front.

He didn't know this Torune kid. But if he meant enough to Kotetsu to have him fight, get injured, and still want to get him back, then there was no use in hesitating. Both males took off running at their top speed, more than aware that they needed to hurry if they wanted a chance to get Torune back.

~/~

"We're close to where it happened!"

Genma's heart pounded loudly in his ears as he followed after Kotetsu. But suddenly a new presence joined them, although it was running towards them rather than after them. It came from the Aburame Compound.

"Stop."

Genma found himself having to halt suddenly as a wall of black materialized in front of him. Even though he normally would have tried to jump over it, Genma had Shino with him. And if he did that, he risked hurting the kid. So he stopped as best he could, hoping to not slam against the wall.

But before he hit the wall, it vanished. Just as quick as it had come, it had left. And with his chest heaving at having run faster than he had in a long time, Genma found himself facing Shibi Aburame, a swarm of bugs returning to his jacket's sleeve.

"Sh-Shibi?"

Kotetsu was confused. But not more than Genma.

"Torune's been taken." He wasted no time in briefing the man on the situation, "We're giving chase. And we have no time to waste on chatting, so if you're going to help, follow."

Shibi was undoubtedly going to help them. Which was a good thing, seeing how Genma was sorely lacking most of his usual weapons and Kotetsu was injured. But with the clan head on their side, there was no doubt that they would be able to-

"You are following after no one."

The words crashed onto Genma like a ton of bricks.

"Wh-" Kotetsu gasped out, then glared over at the man, "The hell you talking 'bout, Shibi?"

Normally, Izumo would be around to calm Kotetsu's flaring emotions. But Genma wasn't about to stop him, even though he was disrespecting a clan head. He was just as confused as the younger male. Just as confused as Shino if the way he shifted on his back to look over at his father was any indication as to how he was feeling.

"You heard me." Shibi's tone was monotonous, even more so than usual. There were zero emotions on his face and voice. And Genma immediately knew there was something wrong with him. "You are not to give chase after Torune. And that is an order."

Both panting males stared at Shibi in confusion with anger building up inside of them. Genma didn't know what was going on. Why Shibi sounded so uncharacteristically cold. Or why he didn't seem intent on following after his kid.

"Fuck your orders!" Kotetsu screamed out, face twisted in anger. "I'm going after that kid! I'm not letting him get taken!"

Kotetsu made to run past Shibi with that promise. But he suddenly shouted out and collapsed onto the floor, causing Genma to jump slightly at the sudden collapse.

"He is injured. He needs to be taken to a hospital."

Genma looked at Shibi, trying to read his face and body language. Then he turned back to Kotetsu, only to find the stubborn teenager's body shaking as he tried to push himself up onto his hands, "Fuck... _That_."

It was admirable to see Kotetsu so set on going after Torune. But now Genma could see a puddle beginning to pool around his body and his heart soon sank.

"But... Father... My brother."

Shibi began to move towards Kotetsu. He didn't spare a single glance towards his son.

"He is being taken to a better place."

Genma didn't know what the hell was going on. Why Kotetsu had been attacked so brutally. Why Shibi was so calm. But he had a horrible sinking feeling in his gut that told him this wasn't the end.

* * *

When Kotetsu woke up in the hospital, it was with screams for Shino and Torune. Genma immediately rushed to his side and shook him to calm down, which made his terrified and unfocused eyes land on him and try to focus on him.

"They took Shino and Torune!"

Genma frowned heavily at his words, then softly pushed him back onto his bed so he could explain the whole situation. Or, really, what little he knew about it.

Apparently, Torune's 'kidnapping' had not been a kidnapping at all. He had been recruited into a classified branch of ANBU's whole structure. And because he didn't have any clearance, that was all Genma could know.

Kotetsu had called bullshit immediately. But it had been Shibi to tell him this. And what would Shibi possibly gain from lying about Torune's whereabouts? He gained _nothing_. He just lost a son. And Genma could tell that he wasn't exactly pleased with Torune being taken from the way he carried himself. Even though Shibi wasn't an open individual when it came to his emotions, he could be read if one gave it enough time. And from what Genma had been able to see, he was annoyed and angered. Not happy.

"They were out for both Shino _and_ Torune!"

Genma sighed and sat himself down on the plastic chair beside his bed. "A test for Torune to see how capable he was in a surprise attack. You got in the way; the reason why you were injured. Their orders were to not harm Shino or Torune. You, on the other hand..."

"... I was fair game."

Neither said anything afterwards. What could be said? They did not understand what exactly was going on. And all they knew for certain was that Kotetsu was injured, Shino was terrified, and they would never find out the truth for as long as they lived because they would never have the clearance for it.

~/~

A few hours after he had woken up, Kotetsu's room reminded Genma of a circus. The kids were running around, both terrified and worried about their friends, while the adults tried to calm them down. And there were way too many people, seeing how it wasn't only the parents and the kids, but also the rest of his friends that had come as soon as they had heard Kotetsu was in the hospital.

"But where's he going to stay? Izumo isn't around!"

"He can stay with us! Right, ma?"

"Kiba!"

"You kids cannot pull Kotetsu around like some kind of doll. He is injured!"

Genma just watched the children glare at Inoichi's shout, then sighed and moved his head slightly so he could look at Kotetsu. The kid was fighting back tears, clearly too proud to cry in front of so many people.

"We're not pulling! It's just his sheets!"

Inoichi was about to scold his daughter when a loud and steady knock on the room's door interrupted him. And every single person in the room turned to look over, wondering who could be interrupting such a loud room.

The Hokage stepped in with a serious frown, followed by Hiashi, his kids, a Hyuga elder, and two more, younger, members of the clan. The wise man looked over the room with an expressionless gaze, then settled his sight on Kotetsu. The teenager looked back with tension all around him, although he did not say a thing.

"Kotetsu. I heard of the misfortune you were awarded for protecting Shino. How are you feeling?"

Even though the kids were loud and usually unafraid to voice their thoughts, they remained quiet as Kotetsu thought on his answer.

"Like shit, sir."

Genma wasn't really all that surprised by the answer. He had known Kotetsu may have been brash with his answer. He had just hoped he would not have disrespected the man in such a crude manner.

"Hmm. That is understandable." The Hokage murmured with a nod, then turned to look at Genma. "Genma, you, undoubtedly, are prepared to take care of Kotetsu while Izumo is away on his mission?"

It didn't surprise any of the shinobi inside of the room to hear that the Hokage was so aware of everything that went on his village. Even though Genma did hear Naruto and Kiba murmur in awe at how much knowledge the old man must have had.

"Of course." He answered without any hesitation, "My apartment's always open to these-"

"Unfortunately, I need you to go on a mission. Eri and Ami are both here to brief you on the situation." The Hokage motioned to the male and female Hyuga, then looked over at Kotetsu, "But you do not need to worry about who will help care for you. Lord Hiashi stepped forward as soon as he heard you would need to find accommodations."

Genma tensed upon hearing the man's words. But when he looked over at Hiashi, he found the man smiling softly. Then, when he noticed Genma's gaze on him, he nodded just minutely, telling him that everything was supposed to be alright.

"I should be fine going home alone." Kotetsu made out with slight difficulty, blinking at the Hokage in wonder and confusion. "I really don't need someone to babysit me."

"Kotetsu-" Genma was about to tell him that it wasn't all that bad to accept some help every now and then, but Hiashi stepping forward and raising his hand stopped him.

"I am aware that you have no family, Kotetsu. And while most of the adults you know here are extremely busy with missions or their true jobs, and, therefore, cannot expect them to help you, I wish to help you in your time of need. You were injured defending Shino. The son of one of my greatest friends. Please, allow the Hyuga Clan to help you in your time of need." Then he smiled softly, and motioned to the three children he had with him. "Besides, I have been told you are good with kids."

He didn't know why Shibi was not offering to put Kotetsu up. Or any of his other friends. But Genma was relieved to hear that Hiashi was adamant about helping the teenager out. Especially after everything he had been forced to live through.

"I... I don't know what to say..."

"Say yes! That way we can go and finally see the Hyuga Compound!"

Kiba suddenly jumped onto Kotetsu's bed with a crazed smile, followed quickly by Naruto. "Yeah, and we can finally see that awesome garden Hinata's always going on about!"

The dark haired teen groaned softly as his injuries were jostled, but quickly hid his pain with a small smile and agreed to stay with Hiashi. And as the kids began to chatter animatedly about finally having an excuse to go and explored the Hyuga Compound, Genma could not help the sad smile that came onto his face.

These kids were so innocent and pure... They didn't understand what had just happened. They didn't understand why the Hokage himself had come to speak with Kotetsu about clan issues. They just knew their friend had gotten hurt, Shino's brother had been taken for more intense ninja training, and that now they were going to be able to visit Kotetsu in the Hyuga Compound.

Genma had never wished to be that age- so ignorant and happy- as much as he did that day.

* * *

He had not been wrong to believe there were worst things to come.

First Torune.

Then the Uchiha Clan.

Unknown and masked men had taken the Aburame.

But the murderer of the clan was a face that he knew all too well.

He had tried. Dammit, had he tried! He'd run to the clan compound as soon as he'd felt something was amiss. He'd run through the blood stained streets and ignored the corpses that littered them, terrified of finding Sasuke or Itachi with their bodies as lifeless as the rest.

When he'd gotten to the main house, Genma had hoped against hope he would not find the lifeless bodies of Sasuke and Itachi. But after what he found... He kind of regretted having hoped such a thing. For that would have been a thousand times better than what he had truly found.

"Itachi..."

The teenager had jumped upon hearing his voice, swiveling around to look at him with wide and tear filled eyes. His mouth had opened and closed, seemingly lost for the words he wanted to say. "G-Genma... You weren't supposed-" But then Sasuke had groaned in pain and his attention had been taken up by his brother once more. "You're weak."

The words had scathed Genma. And there was no doubt in his mind that they had been a thousand times more hurtful for the boy they had been directed towards.

"You're both weak and disgusting. You truly deserve each other."

Then the murderer of the Uchiha clan had thrown Sasuke directly at Genma, forcing the man to brace himself to not hurt the young boy. And by the time he had managed to right himself and shift Sasuke into a more comfortable hold, Itachi had vanished into thin air.

Genma was never the same after that.

 _Sasuke was never the same_.

..~..~..

The angst is real in me... I am _so sorry!_ But this all needed to happen. And after much debate, I decided to keep the Uchiha clan massacre. Even though it would be interesting to see a world without it, I also kind of needed Genma to have even more character development! Along with the rest of the children learning and growing from all of these experiences.

Please review and tell me what y'all think! I know Valentine's Day is supposed to be for fun and love... But I decided to post this as soon as I finished writing it. Tell me what y'all thought!


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter 12: The Ways in Which Genma and the Kids Were Able to Move On and Help Sasuke in His Time of Need:_ Even though he had never thought about becoming a parent, Genma found himself becoming Naruto and Sasuke's legal guardian. And as he spent more time taking care of kids and making sure they were fine, he found out that the ache in his heart wasn't as big anymore. And it was around this time the last of the demonic children he ended up taking under his wing appeared.

..~..~..

He had been asked to adopt Sasuke. The Hokage had almost pleaded for him to take up the Uchiha. And, quite frankly, Genma thought he had been underestimated by the man if he had thought Genma would not have stepped forward. As wounded and betrayed as he may have felt because of Itachi's actions, he wasn't about to leave Sasuke out in the cold. And there was no way in hell he would allow the council to leave him in the Uchiha Compound. That had just been an unbelievably stupid idea.

But... _Naruto_.

The kids had all been troopers throughout the aftermath of the massacre. They had all been there for Sasuke and stayed with him through the worst of nightmares. They refused to leave him alone. Which meant that they had all just about moved into his apartment for three whole months.

The parents hadn't minded. They had merely helped wash the kids clothes every now and then and brought groceries so Genma didn't run out of food.

All of them had done excellent work to keep Sasuke afloat. In their own, personal ways, they showed the Uchiha that they loved him and cared for him. They all made sure that he never felt alone. And they made sure to tell him that he _wasn't weak_ , and that his brother had been wrong to tell him that.

But, out of all of them, the one that had really surprised Genma had been Naruto.

The blonde and the Uchiha had always had a good relationship. Even though they weren't the best of friends, they were just about the closest thing to it. They hung out extremely well, enjoyed each others company, and loved to plot.

Naruto had refused to leave Sasuke alone. Wherever the Uchiha went, Naruto followed. And whenever Sasuke tried to push him away with violence and shouts, the blonde would just hug him tightly and promise him that the world wasn't nearly as evil as it may seem now.

"I... If I'm going to take on Sasuke, I would like to also take care of Naruto."

Genma had surprised himself when he said this. And the Hokage had been just as taken aback. "I don't think I should adopt either of them... I'm not really looking forward to being scrutinized by the council every time I so much as breathe simply because I have Naruto and Sasuke living under my roof... So adoption's off the table. But I'm sure that a guardianship wouldn't hurt."

"You've read up on your options."

Genma smiled softly at the older man, "I know I'm not going to be allowed to adopt Naruto. The council would throw a fit over it. But there's no reason that I wouldn't be allowed to be his guardian, seeing how I already do most of the things a guardian is supposed to. And I can't adopt Sasuke if I'm just going to be Naruto's guardian..." He finished with a noncommittal shrug, feeling rather self-conscious.

He still wasn't over the Fourth's death. But the more time he spent with Naruto, the easier it was to see him as his own person. And he knew that he couldn't really adopt Sasuke if he left Naruto out in the cold. Not just because of how Naruto would feel, but because of how the rest of the kids would feel. So this was the best medium he could get to.

Guardianship over the last Uchiha and the village's demon container.

How had this become his life?

"I will have the papers for you to sign tomorrow morning." Genma glanced up to find the Hokage looking at him with a soft frown, a quizzical glint in his eyes. "Genma... How have the children... How have you explained what happened?"

The younger male winced slightly at the question. "It... It wasn't easy, sir... One day Itachi's here and being a great big brother and friend... And the next he's turning against his clan and hurting his younger brother..." He breathed out regretfully, closing his eyes to try and compose himself.

He couldn't believe what Itachi had done. The kid had been too good and kind to ever possibly have done this all by himself... And then there had been that conversation they'd had so long ago...

Just like with Torune, there was a rank smell of _wrong_ all around the situation.

But Genma kept quiet about his thoughts, more than aware of possibly being branded an accomplice if he didn't tread carefully.

"They can't understand why Itachi would do such a thing. Hell, they can barely understand the fact that none of the Uchiha killed will come back... But they're dealing with a lot better than most kids would... They're there for Sasuke. And even though some find it hard to understand that Itachi did such a horrible thing, they don't talk about him near Sasuke... They're a lot more tactful than one would think a kid could be."

"That is..." The Hokage stopped for a moment, thinking on his words, then sighed, "As good as I think we could have hoped for." Then he looked directly into Genma's eyes, face hardening. "No matter what someone may tell you, Genma, what you are doing is great. Ignore anybody that may try to tell you otherwise. And keep Sasuke around those friends of his. He needs to be reminded that there is good in this world."

There was a harshness in the man's words that allowed Genma to know that some of the things he meant were way above what Genma was supposed to know. But there was also a softness and caring that let him know that, no matter how difficult life may get, he truly thought that he was doing the right thing.

And if the Third thought he was doing good... Then he must truly be doing well.

"Of course, sir." He smiled lopsidedly at this, "I would never have even thought to leave that kid out on the curb. The rest of the ankle biters would have made my life a living hell."

* * *

"Welcome to your new home."

"Genma, this is still your apartment. We've been here for forever. You don't need to give us a tour."

The man frowned slightly at Sasuke's words, but looked over at Naruto and smiled. Even though the Uchiha wasn't all that excited for the tour of his apartment, Naruto was. (He guessed it was because of the fact that Naruto would never have to go back to the orphanage ever again, but he was still happy to see the kid so elated.)

"Okay, fine." Genma murmured, then entered his home, one bag clutched in each hand. "Because you know most of the place, I'll just take you to the most important place: your room."

"We get our own rooms?!"

"No, Naruto. We'll be sharing a room."

The blonde deflated for just moment, then smiled broadly and ran in front of Genma to throw the guest room's door open. "Cool! Sasuke, we get bunk beds! Do you want the top bunk or the bottom bunk?"

Genma smiled softly as he saw Sasuke's pace speed up just a bit at Naruto's question, but soon followed after them to the room. When he got there, he found Naruto scrambling to climb up the ladder, all the while Sasuke looked over the room with wide eyes.

"You... You changed a lot, Genma."

The guest room had been plain with a simple bed inside of it and a few pieces of furniture. But after the parents had heard he would be taking legal guardianship of both boys, they had pitched in to help give them a room they would love.

"The bunk beds came from Tenten's parents. Takeo had the structure from when she was a kid and has taken pretty good care of it." He explained as he moved to place either kid's bags on their new beds, then moved so he could push Naruto up so he could finally reach the top bunk. The kid was so excited he couldn't properly grasp the rungs.

Then he turned to Sasuke and motioned to the mattresses and sheets. "These came from the Hyuga clan. Hiashi said they didn't really need them anymore and that you kids deserved some proper sheets." He smiled at the memory of the stony faced Hyuga telling him this, then pointed towards the desk, drawer, night table, and chest of toys. "And those came from Tsume. If you find a bone, Kuromaru would like it back."

Inoichi had gifted him the brand new shower curtains for the guest bathroom and Choza had brought along old clothes for Naruto and Sasuke to wear until they were able to buy new ones. And Shikaku had given Genma a large wad of money (that he'd tried to refuse) to make sure he would not run out of money while he adjusted to his new life.

For a moment, everything was quiet. Naruto and Sasuke both stared at their new room with fascination and awe. And Genma smiled at the sight, oddly warm as he turned from one kid to the other.

And suddenly he was back to worrying over their well being when Naruto decided to _jump from the top bunk_ over to him with a shout. He turned quickly and caught the kid. But before he could start to properly scold him, Naruto was crying out a thousand thank you's.

"I've never had a family before! But now I do! Thank you, Farmer man!"

Genma was caught off guard by the heartfelt words. And then his surprise grew when Sasuke slowly walked towards him and patted his thigh softly.

"Thank you."

All the man could do was blink at both kids.

Was this what having a family was supposed to feel like? Cause it wasn't a bad feeling.

* * *

"What do you mean I can't buy instant ramen?"

"It's unhealthy, Naruto! You're not supposed to be eating that! Just like Genma shouldn't be buying it!"

Genma blinked at Ino's shouts as his hand froze, caught halfway to its destination. And Sasuke stared at the girl in confusion, hands clutching a pack of frozen dinners.

"Uh... Ino... Are you okay?"

"Yes!" The blonde shouted, then turned to glare at him. "But it's not because of these instant dinners you keep buying! Farmer man, it's bad for your health to eat these things!"

"We don't even eat them that often." Sasuke muttered, glancing down at the food in his hands. "Just when Genma's too tired to cook."

"Which is just about every day now." Tenten rolled her eyes as she appeared at the opening of the aisle, arms full of vegetables and fruits. "Gen-Gen, you're giving them unhealthy food. You shouldn't be eating so many instant foods."

Hinata and Sakura followed after Tenten, their own arms filled as well. And Neji and Shino appeared behind them, carrying assorted types of meats.

"I can't cook every day, kids." Genma retracted his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, "And it's not like you eat at my place every day now. You shouldn't be so-"

"We worry because we care, Farmer man!" Ino huffed, then slapped Naruto's hand as it tried to reach for the instant ramen once more. "What good is having you around if you get fat and die!"

Being a ninja, it was virtually impossible for him to get fat. But Genma wasn't allowed to say that before he suddenly found the shopping cart being taken away from him by Ino and Tenten.

"We'll take over the shopping now. You three can go sit in the corner and think about what you've done." Tenten offered, then looked over at the rest of her friends. "Let's make sure he never even _sees_ another packet of instant food ever again."

The food conscious kids left them in that aisle after her words. Which left Genma, Naruto, and Sasuke blinking after them in confusion, unsure of what they were supposed to do.

"Did I... Did I just get grounded?"

"You did, Genma."

The man turned around to find Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji walking up to him, both munching comfortably on their bags of chips. "But don't feel bad. They did the same thing to Lord Yamanaka a week ago. And to Kotetsu and Zumo yesterday." Chouji answered with a smile, which then made Kiba smirk.

"You should see Kotetsu. He's still crying about not being able to buy those cookies he loves so much."

"Why am I not surprised?" Sasuke breathed out with a shake of his head, then turned to look at Genma in slight confusion. "Are you really going to let them boss you around like that?"

Genma was about to answer when Naruto suddenly decided to shout out, "But I want my ramen!"

And after that, the man patted both children on the back. "That, kids, is a losing battle."

* * *

"You know... You're taking the Uchiha massacre a lot better than I thought you would have."

Genma quirked an eyebrow at Kakashi's easy tone, even though he was speaking of such a heavy thing, then looked over at the younger man in intrigue.

Itachi had... He missed the kid. There wasn't a single day that passed in which he didn't think about the kid that he had once hoped to bring happiness to. Sometimes it felt like a true miracle to not even end up thinking about him. His thoughts usually always drifted to the teenager that had burrowed his way into his heart without any difficulty. But he couldn't really allow himself to think too much on him when there were so many kids to keep taking care of.

"What did you think I was going to do?" He murmured softly, although he had a suspicion gnawing at him that told him he wouldn't really like the answer he'd be given.

Kakashi breathed in deeply as he leaned back into his couch, then shrugged slightly. "What you tend to always do when shit hits the fan, Shiranui. Detach yourself from everything that's going on and get yourself sent on suicide missions."

He had to hold back the disbelieving scoff his habits told him to make as soon as he heard the words. Kakashi was telling him this. _Kakashi Hatake_ was the one calling him out on his patterns of behavior after tragedies. The same guy that just about fused with ANBU after his mentor's death. The same guy that was the poster boy for traumatized shinobi and what could happen to a genin if they had terrible strokes of bad luck paired with bad decision making.

"That's..." Genma blinked for a moment, then shook his head and got up from the couch. "Want some coffee or something? My shift at T&I starts up in an hour."

He could have called Kakashi out on his hypocrisy. He could have told him that he was being a jerk and that he needed to take a good long look at himself before he said things like these. He could point out that he was the pot calling the kettle black.

But where would that get him? Into yet another argument with one of his best friends. It'd get him nowhere, that's where. Other than into a dark place of mind he didn't really feel like going into now that Sasuke and Naruto were legally his to take care of at all times. And, even though they had yet to give him any warnings or threats, he was more than sure that the council the Hokage answered to had more than just one ANBU looking in at him, hoping that he would slip up so they could do whatever they wanted with the kids.

"Can I get it half and half?"

"No." Genma rolled his eyes at the question, then ignored the whine of hurt that the younger let out afterwards. "You hate sweet things and always end up dumping your coffee out to make it even more bitter. So either you drink it black, or you don't drink at all. This is the good blend, after all."

"Ooh! Bear's blend?"

There was something odd about the way Kakashi said the ANBU members name. But Genma needed to get ready for when the children burst into his home and for his job. And because the kids would take up most of his time before he went to work, he needed to get ready _before_ they arrived. Which meant he couldn't really get distracted by Kakashi being odd.

"Yes, Bear's blend. Now, are you going to take it black or should I just not give you-"

"I want coffee, Farmer man!"

" _Great_."

Even though Kakashi smiled broadly, Genma could only frown with a deadpan tone.

* * *

"No! Please, brother! Please stop! _Itachi!_ "

"Sasuke, it's just a nightmare! You're fine!"

Genma flew out of his bed as soon as he heard the shouting coming from the boys' room. He raced as quickly as he could to reach the screaming children, throwing the door open without any kind of second thought about the way the door knob was going to leave a mark.

Naruto was hugging Sasuke tightly on the bottom bunk. The Uchiha had his sheets thrown to the side and was sobbing loudly, hands grasping and clawing at Naruto. It seemed that he was trying to protect himself from his nightmares and did not know it was Naruto that held him.

He quickly stepped over to both boys and wrapped them up into a tight embrace and used the most comforting tone he could. "Everything is fine, Sasuke. You're with Naruto and I. You're at my apartment. Itachi is not here. He can't hurt you."

The child sobbed, though. And now that he didn't have to be strong for Sasuke, Naruto himself began to cry softly.

Genma's face softened as he looked on at both boys, then sighed heavily and squeezed them even tighter.

"You're fine, kids. I'm here. And I won't let anyone hurt you."

* * *

Hiashi had somehow become Genma's substitute. Whenever he was forced out of the village for a mission or to complete some kind of assignment for T&I, he would tell the children beforehand so they knew that they would not be able to go back to his house after school.

He had started off asking Iwashi or Raidou if one of them could take care of Sasuke and Naruto while he was out. Even though Naruto was used to taking care of himself and Sasuke was intelligent enough to not get into too much trouble if alone, they were only seven years old. Genma could not, no matter how much they asked for it, leave them alone for days on end. They had almost burned the place down when he left them alone for an hour (although, he had to concede, Kiba and Tenten had been there, spurring them on to get in trouble).

But after a few missions, Genma noticed an interesting pattern. Even though he left the kids with Raidou and Iwashi, and even Kakashi that _one time_ , they always wound up in the Hyuga household. They would spend their days there and beg to be allowed to stay the night. And, usually, Hiashi allowed them to stay the night. And after a while, he just allowed them to stay for the whole time Genma was outside of the village.

When they saw that Hiashi allowed Sasuke and Naruto to stay, the kids immediately took action. And they forced their way into Hiashi's home without any hesitation.

The fact that Kotetsu had been around the compound for when this happened may have been one of the reasons why Hiashi had allowed it. The teenager ended up staying with the Hyuga's for a whole month because of the severity of his injuries and how slow his recovery had gone.

Kotetsu had put up a fight most of the way to be as little a nuisance as possible. When he'd first been moved into the compound, he'd really tried to keep from bothering the members of the clan. He refused to ask for any help, even though the Hyuga maids were more than used to helping out, and had ended up injuring himself by trying to do things on his own. He'd jostled most of his injuries and ripped off quite a few bandages and stitches because of it. But Hiashi had allowed this to happen because he didn't want to push the teenager. Although that had ended when the idiot broke an arm by trying to grab his suitcase out from a storage space at the top of his room's closet on his own. He'd used a chair to be able to reach it but had tumbled down and fallen onto his left arm, crushing the bone beneath his body.

After that, Hiashi had been livid. He'd accepted a lot of Kotetsu's hard headed ways and refusal to ask for help. He'd allowed the teenager to harm himself in minor ways in hopes that he would, eventually, understand that his clan members were at his disposal and eager to help. But after he did something as dangerous and stupid as refusing to ask for help for such a simple task and had wound up breaking an arm, Hiashi had put his foot down.

He'd scolded the teenager and threatened him: If he didn't ask for help, he would not be allowed to see any of the kids.

Kotetsu had quickly straightened up after that. Although he didn't really ask any of the Hyuga for help if they weren't either Hiashi, Hinata, or Neji. But the man took that as a victory and made sure to always be available for the teenager.

Genma believed that by busying himself with his clan responsibilities and taking care of the children and Kotetsu, Hiashi kept himself busy enough to not think too much about his deceased wife. And this helped him recover and get over it, if the way he smiled much easier now was any indicator to go by.

"Can Lord Hiashi take care of us for the week, Genma? Lord Inoichi told us you're going to be out with Ibiki to track down some person or another."

Genma quirked an eyebrow at Sasuke's question, but was not allowed to say a single word before Naruto was elaborating upon what his friend had said.

"I like being in the Hyuga Compound. Kotetsu's fun and playing hide and seek in their gardens is really cool because of all the different flowers and trees they've got there! Kiba can't cheat with his nose because of all the smells!"

He knew for a fact, that Hiashi didn't mind having the kids around. Even though the rest of the Hyuga council did not particularly enjoy having so many outsiders in their home at the same time, Hiashi allowed it. And, from what he'd been told, a few of the more high ranking members of the Main Branch of the clan were even starting to enjoy the childrens' visits.

He guessed that may have something to do with the fact that the children had the astonishing power to make just about anyone like them. And the fact that Naruto and Kiba were so open with their admiration to their skills didn't hurt in the least bit, he believed.

Thinking about the Hyuga's for a moment, Genma ended up sighing and nodding. "I'll ask Lord Hiashi if he minds."

* * *

Kotetsu had changed after Torune's kidnapping. He wasn't as loud and brash as before. And while he was still hyperactive and almost annoying whenever the kids were around, he was much more reserved when they weren't.

Izumo had told him, in a moment of pure worry, that he was terrified for Kotetsu. He knew his best friend and he wasn't the same person that Izumo had come to love after years of always being together. He was worried that Kotetsu would never be the same after Torune had been taken.

Genma had told him the only thing he was able to think of at the time: "Only time will tell if he'll be able to go back to being the person he once was. All we can do is be there for him, Izumo. You can't push him into being the same. But you can't leave him completely alone. You have to be there if he asks for it and even if he doesn't. You have to be his friend."

The kid had grabbed onto his words as if they were the only thing tethering him to sanity. And he'd been there for Kotetsu as much as he could, although he ended up going out on a lot of out of village missions while Kotetsu healed up.

There was, apparently, a strong need for his skills to capture one elusive shinobi. And the Hokage knew that, even though he would like to be around for his friend, Izumo had a strong sense of duty and would go through with the missions as effectively and professionally as he could. And by the fourth time he was sent out, the kid returned with a broad smile and a captured nin ready to be interrogated by Genma's unit.

Right now, two months had passed since the two traumatizing events that had been the Uchiha massacre and Torune's kidnapping. Sasuke still had nightmares and tried to shrink into himself, much like Shino. But their friends refused to let either boy become too wrapped up in their own fears and forced them to play and recover.

Genma found himself inside of his apartment with Izumo helping him cook, all the while Hana, Iwashi, and Kotetsu entertained the children. Iwashi was here because he wanted to spend a night with his friends and the kids before he was sent off on a month long mission to Snow Country. And the rest of the teenagers were here for the free food and to help Genma out.

"Who do you think is better for Farmer man, Ko, Bear or Scarecrow?"

Izumo smiled softly as he stirred the rice he was cooking, then glanced up at Genma. The older male was frowning softly and in dejection. Even though he didn't like it, he knew there wasn't much he could do to stop the children from trying to set him up.

"I think they're both good for him, Shino. What do the rest of you think?"

"That Gen-Gen needs a love life!"

"He should totally go out with Bear."

"But Scarecrow's good for him too!"

"You know, I wonder why Genma refuses to adopt you and Izumo and Iwashi. He's already adopted Naruto and Sasuke."

"Because we're adults, Sakura. He doesn't need to adopt us. And I don't think he'd be able to, either..."

The children were thrown into a round of arguments about how Genma should totally adopt the teenagers, which made Genma smile softly but roll his eyes. These kids... They were quite interesting and unique.

"Hey, Genma, how much is left for the food?"

The man turned around to find Hana and Sasuke walking over to them. But before he answered, he was stopped by finding something odd. Sasuke had tear tracks on his cheeks... Just like Hana.

"Is everything alright, Hana?"

Both kids looked up at him with saddened eyes. But soon Hana nodded and smiled softly at him. "We were just talking about... _What happened_."

Sasuke fidgeted slightly at Genma's intense gaze, looking away from him and at the floor. "We came to an understanding... Genma, do you think Hana and Kiba could stay the night?"

Sasuke looked so small... And Hana looked so hopeful... There was no way Genma could ever possibly tell them no.

"Of course they can stay, Sasuke. But I hope you know you'll have to share a bed with Naruto and Kiba to let Hana sleep alone."

"I don't mind!" The kid answered hurriedly, then blushed softly and took one step back. "I-I know I'm supposed to respect girls and give them their space."

"Good kid." Genma smiled softly as he took a step towards the kid and ruffled his hair, then glanced up at Hana without his smile ever wavering. "Hope you're aware you won't get any sleep tonight."

"I'm aware." Hana smiled back, picking at her nails.

Later on, Genma found out why it was that Sasuke had wanted Hana to stay the night. She knew how to deal with nightmares, apparently. And she helped him get through the night without ever screaming out and alerting Genma as to his distress.

* * *

Working at T&I was rather eventful. Not a single day went by without something extraordinary occurring. Often times, these events took place because Anko deemed her workplace too boring. At others, it was because someone else decided to pick up on Anko's slack. But today had been different. None of the members of the branch had been the ones to bring about utter chaos. It had been Genma's minions.

"Quickly, Kiba! We can't let that Anko woman get to us! I don't want to be eaten!"

"I'm running as fast as I can, Tenten! But you've got longer legs than I do!"

Genma sighed softly as both blurs ran past him and away from Anko. And a few seconds after they had passed, he heard a shrill and loud shout emit from the direction they had just come from.

" _Genma_!" Anko screamed, "I'm going to kill your brats!"

"You will do no such thing, Anko."

Ibiki appeared at the same time Anko did. The man was stoic and composed. The woman... Not so much.

"Look what they did to my clothes, Morino!" Anko seethed as she motioned to the burnt and ripped pieces of clothing, then glared over at Genma. "What the hell are you teaching your kids, you jerk?!"

With a shrug, the man murmured, "How to be strong and independent members of society?"

The answer was not taken too well by Anko. But before she could get her hands on the ninja toothpick, Ibiki had grabbed her by the collar of her coat and dragged her up, effectively stopping her from hurting the other man.

"You cannot hurt Shiranui, Anko. And you really shouldn't just stand there, Genma. You know how dangerous this one can be." Ibiki scolded them both with a heavy frown pulling at his lips, even though Genma only shrugged back at them both.

"In my defense, it was Kotetsu and Izumo that snuck these kids inside of T&I."

As soon as he had said this, there was a loud explosion from the break room. And when he turned around, Genma found Sasuke, Shino, Chouji, Neji, and Hinata running away from an ash covered Shimon.

"The fire style jutsu Ebisu taught me works!" Sasuke cheered as he ran past Genma, smile the broadest Genma had seen in a while. "Can you believe it?! I did it right, Gen-Gen!"

This was the first time in a long time Sasuke had used that nickname instead of Genma. And, sure, Ibiki didn't like it, but Genma couldn't scold him after that. Not when Sasuke was finally looking like he had before the Uchiha massacre.

"I'll let it slide just this once. No more after this one time, Ibiki." He promised with a small smile, then looked over in the direction of the interrogation rooms to find Ino skipping up to them with Inoichi and the rest of the kids.

"Daddy says he'll take us for some ice cream if we promise to not continue painting on the suspects." She smiled broadly as she jumped into Genma's arms, hugging him tightly. "Although I think that guy needed a makeover and a good mouth rinsing. He swore a lot."

Genma had no idea what the girl was talking about. But Inoichi's face was begging him to get the kids out of his work place and he knew that it was only a matter of seconds before the blonde lost his cool and forced him onto D-Ranks.

"Chickadees, round up! We're going for ice cream!"

Getting most of the children to appear wasn't too difficult. Most of them ran up as soon as they had been told they would be getting some ice cream. But, for some reason, Naruto and Shikamaru took their sweet time appearing. And when he asked why they had taken so long, they'd both remained awfully quiet even though they had smirked at him.

* * *

They had snagged weapons from the T&I weapons vault. That was why they had been so quiet and proud. And then they'd had the gall to try and sell them at a discount price to their fellow students in the Academy's school yard.

That was the first time Genma had ended up in a parent-teacher conference with Iruka Sensei. But it certainly wasn't the last time.

* * *

"You're only seven! How can you kids get into so much trouble?"

"Well, Iruka Sensei, we're actually incredibly smart-"

Genma sighed at Naruto's words, raised his hand to shut him up, then glanced up apologetically at the teenager in front of him. "What punishment are you thinking of? Please tell me it's harsh and will finally teach them to not try and prank their teachers."

Normally, he wouldn't ask for a harsh punishment for the kids. But this was the fourth time he'd been pulled from his job to attend a meeting with the childrens' teacher and he was beginning to get real tired of it. And, unlike with Neji and Tenten back when they had been forced to listen to that evil teacher, the kids were pulling mean and almost injury inducing pranks on their teachers.

"But he told me that I was a monster!"

Genma's inner ranting froze as soon as Naruto said this. He turned to look at the blonde child with narrowed eyes and frowned, "This guy called you a monster and you didn't tell me? Naruto, what have I told you before? If ever you've got a problem with _any_ of your teachers, you tell an adult. You can't take things into your own hands!"

The blonde's eyes widened at his harsh words, but soon he looked away and towards Kiba. The Inuzuka frowned back at Genma, then huffed out, "We thought we could take care of him."

"Kids..." Iruka sighed softly as he looked from one child to the other, then turned to Genma. "I had no idea about this. If I had, I would have talked to Hiroshi Sensei, rather than just call you in."

"I know." Genma murmured softly, although he never looked away from both boys. "You two know you can talk to me about anything, right? Or to Iruka Sensei. That's what we're here for."

"We know." Both boys mumbled out, mirroring each other in their reluctance.

"But we wanted to deal with things ourselves. You know, like real ninja are supposed to do." Kiba continued, then looked at Naruto. "He was being a jerk to my friend, so I was going to protect him. We got each other's backs, right, Narutard?"

"Right, Dog Breath!"

Genma breathed out with a shake of his head, then turned towards Iruka. "What do you propose we do? If the teacher they hurt had been harassing Naruto..."

The teenager's lips became a thin line as he looked back at Genma. Then he closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and asked, "Naruto, Kiba, would you mind stepping out for a moment? What I need to tell Genma-san is very important and not for your ears."

Both kids immediately sputtered out in indignation. They wanted to stay and listen. But then Genma reminded them that, if they waited outside, they could play ninja while he spoke with their teacher, and that had been enough to get them moving.

Then, once both kids were outside of the room and the door had been shut behind them, Iruka looked at Genma with a remarkably serious scowl.

"Naruto is not treated well by many teachers in the school." He began without any hesitation, then continued without allowing Genma to say a single thing before he had finished. "I try to keep him protected, as do a few others. But it's rather hard to keep him safe from the whispers and rumors when they're coming in from all directions. And I have a whole group to take care of, not just your kids."

The Third had feared this. He had worried that Naruto would be harmed in the Academy because of those that hated the fox within him. But... Why had he not heard of any of this until now?

"Having so many friends keeps him mostly protected. Because they see that so many people like him, the rest of the kids aren't too terrified of being with Naruto. Although some repeat the words they've heard from their parents..." Iruka sighed regretfully, then shook his head and stood up from his desk to look outside the window of his room, one which faced the playground below. "I guess that now that they see that Naruto has true potential to be a ninja, some teachers are worried that he'll graduate and are trying to sabotage him."

"Then what do you propose we do? We can't just let Naruto keep getting in trouble because of these teachers."

"What we've done until now. Teach him the right thing to do." Iruka smiled softly at what he saw outside, then looked back to Genma with a determined glint in his eyes. "Naruto is a good kid that was dealt some bad cards when he was born. But with you and those friends of his, he has a chance at a real future. And even though we can't fire every single teacher that doesn't like him- that would leave us short staffed-, we can teach him how to deal with bullies in non-violent ways."

Genma stood up with a nod then walked towards the younger male to join him at the window. And when he looked outside, he understood why it was that Iruka had smiled.

Kiba, Naruto, and Sasuke were running around playing ninja. The Uchiha had stuck around, waiting for Genma and both his friends. And they all looked extremely happy and ignorant to the hatred of those around them.

It hurt Genma to know that, even after years of being an innocent child, many still hated him. He didn't hate the kid anymore. And he barely felt bad whenever he was around. Even though sometimes he was reminded of Minato and what could have been, those didn't come along as often as they once had.

He was actually getting used to having Naruto around. Genma had never thought it to be possible... But there he was. Guardian to the demon container. And (dare he say it?), he may just like it a bit.

"I'll teach them about how to deal with bullies through the right network." The older male sighed as he rolled a senbon around in his mouth, then clinked it against his teeth as his eyes drifted away from the running children and over to a lone figure standing at the edge of the playground, where the practice dummies stood.

It was a boy with long black hair tied back into a braided ponytail and dressed in a kimono shirt with dark pants and sandals. He was standing with his back turned to the building, his shoulders tensed while he seemed to be fighting away tears.

"Hey, Iruka Sensei... Who's that?"

The teenager followed the finger he was pointing, then frowned softly, "That's Rock Lee... He's eight years old and can't perform either ninjutsu or genjutsu. Many of his teachers believe we shouldn't waste any time teaching him..."

The information caused a knot to begin to form in Genma's stomach. "Who's his teacher? In what group is he?"

"Hmm... I think he's in... Mikoto's group. He's a year above most of your kids." Iruka answered, then sighed, "He's not in Neji and Tenten's class, if that's what you're wondering."

He resisted the urge to breathe out in relief when he heard this, then nodded towards the younger male. "Thank you, Iruka Sensei. I'll be heading out now."

"Of course, Genma-san."

~/~

He didn't go to gather his kids as soon as he had left the classroom. Instead he made his way over to the practice dummies and found that the kid was sniffling and trying his best to keep from bursting out into tears.

There had been different ways he could have approached the situation. One of them was to leave the kid alone and just pick up his kids and go back to his apartment.

But there was no way he could do that. Not after he had heard that this kid was considered a lost cause simply because he could not perform either ninjutsu or genjutsu. Someone rather close to him had been striken down for the same reason back when they had been kids. And now he was one of the strongest ninja Genma had ever met. One of the most annoying, too, but he was a great friend.

Another way was to speak to kid and ask him what was wrong... But from the way he was glaring dangerously at the practice dummies, Genma felt like that wouldn't do much good either.

He rolled his senbon around in his mouth as he wondered over how he should begin the conversation, then smirked when he heard what was the kid's stomach groaning out in hunger.

"You know, there's a really good ramen place near here." He commented offhandedly, then found the kid gasping out and jumping to turn to look at him with wide eyes. "Hi. Name's Genma Shiranui." He waved at the kid, then pointed at the three kids running around a few feet away from them. "I couldn't help but notice you out here all alone. And it'd be outright cruel to leave a kid to walk home so late at night."

Idly, he wondered how this may be seen by anyone that didn't know about his penchant for picking up strays. Undoubtedly, some parents would worry that he had unsavory intentions for the kids he took care of. And this kid would have a right to be completely freaked out by a man like him appearing out of nowhere to offer him to go out and get some food.

But those thoughts were dashed away pretty quickly when the kid's terrified scowl became a bright smile, "I would love some food, Stranger!"

"Awesome." Genma smiled back, then offered his hand for the kid to grasp it. And when the boy did, he began to walk him towards the rest of the kids.

All three boys were surprised to find Genma walking towards them with a new kid. But they didn't really question it and instead cheered about having a brand new friend around. And the Rock Lee boy first looked surprised to be greeted so happily, then began to play with the kids with an energy that was eerily familiar to the senbon enthusiast.

* * *

Rock Lee's parents weren't all too thrilled about their son appearing at their home at eight at night on a school night with a complete stranger and three odd children following him, but Genma soon explained the situation to them and they were rather understanding. Although, he guessed they were pretty easy going about it because of the fact that his mother was a jounin and had seen all the pictures and heard all of the rumors that dealt with Genma taking care of little kids.

Integrating the kid into their group wasn't too difficult. All of the kids were rather intrigued by the new kid. And if they knew about Rock Lee's shortcomings, they never once pointed them out. Instead Kiba and Tenten eagerly taught him the beauty of paper bombs and Ino and Hinata taught him the beauty of flowers.

..~..~..

So, there's a poll up on my profile about this story. If y'all would be so kind as to go ahead and check it out, please vote. It'd be nice to see what y'all would like to see this story ending with.

And please review to tell me what you think. I love to read what y'all have to say and take it into consideration for the next chapters.


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter 13: How Genma Coped with the Children Becoming Genin... Or, Really, How the Children Coped with Becoming Genin:_ As the years passed, Genma saw the children grow up and become capable pre-teens. As they had grown, he came to terms with the fact that the day would come when the kids would have to leave his apartment to become their own person. And Genma was prepared to take the necessary steps to see the kids become fully grown, responsible, mature shinobi. Unfortunately, it seemed they were set on throwing wrenches into all of the plans he had for his life.

..~..~..

"Guy, let go of the child!"

"But, Genma, isn't it good the both of them meet and get together?"

Genma leveled Raidou with an intense glare that told him everything he needed to know without saying a single word. And Raidou immediately understood, face paling and a frightened haze overcoming his eyes.

"I can't have two Guy's running around! Lee's bad enough as it is! And it's a miracle I haven't tried to murder Guy yet!"

Guy had a running start on both of them. But with Raidou helping him, Genma was able to catch up with his old teammate. And when they did, he forced the man to leave Lee alone.

"He's not your student! And won't be for another few years!" Genma growled as he held a stunned and somewhat scared Rock Lee away from Guy.

The large man, in the mean time, found himself with a paper bomb attached to his mouth, courtesy of Raidou. "And if we get lucky, you'll _never_ be able to teach him _anything_. He's bad enough as is, we don't need you corrupting him even more."

What Guy thought he was doing trying to kidnap one of his kids was beyond Genma. But if any of them was an almost perfect match for the hyperactive man, it was Lee. He had the same limitations for fighting and the same fighting spirit that pushed him forward even in the face of certain failure.

Honestly speaking, when he'd first seen the kid, he had seen Guy in his younger day.

But after a few weeks of interacting and having fun with the rest of the kids, Genma had seen that Lee was his own person. And he still had a chance at being a regular human being. But those chances would be dashed if Guy managed to sink his _youthful claws_ into him.

"What is going? I am confused."

"Nothing, Lee." Genma turned around and carried the kid off, leaving a struggling Guy behind with an angered Raidou. "That man is bad news. Stay away from him."

(Genma's warning had done nothing. It seemed that when two people were linked together by destiny, they would eventually find a way to get together.)

(He figured this out when one day he returned to his home to find _all of the children_ wearing Guy's green monstrosity.)

(It had taken Kurenai, Kakashi, and Shikaku to stop him from murdering Guy.)

* * *

One day Genma was allowed to stay home from T&I. It was one of those unusual slow days in which there weren't that many suspects to interrogate and the paper work had been wrangled to an almost manageable point. So Inoichi had sent him home with a small smile and promises to head on over with dinner later on so they could eat with the children like in the old days.

The man actually looked forward for that dinner. The kids deserved some kind of treat after months of hard work and excelling in school. Especially after all the help they had given Naruto and Rock Lee so they could fix up their grades.

When he got to his apartment, Genma had not expected much of anything. The kids were supposed to be in the Academy, the teenagers were supposed to be on their missions or working, and the adults that sometimes muscled their way inside were off doing their own things. So he was supposed to have a few hours of peace and quiet ahead of him before the children were let out of school.

But those hopes for a quiet afternoon before the children arrived were dashed as soon as he opened his door. He had expected to find a quiet apartment without a single person in sight. What he found, though, was _not that_.

"Kotetsu! What are the children doing outside of the Academy?" He shouted out the second he saw the children seated around a broadly smiling Kotetsu.

Izumo was nowhere in sight. Although Iwashi was hugging a calm Hanabi to his chest.

 _All_ of the children were sitting in a circle. Hinata, Neji, Sakura... All of the good kids were there. Along with the more troublesome ones. And as soon as they heard Genma's voice, they froze up and turned to look at him with wide eyes that read of how truly surprised they were to see him.

"Genma!" Kotetsu choked out, almost falling back in his chair. "You're supposed to be at work!"

"And the kids are all supposed to be at the Academy!" Genma growled back, taking a step into his home, "And you two!" He pointed at Iwashi and Kotetsu, who froze as soon as they had been pointed at, "Are supposed to be working! What are you doing here?!"

It was supposed to have been a quiet day...

"We did _not_ sneak the children out of the Academy, if that's what you're thinking." Iwashi answered levelly, shifting Hanabi in his arms. "They snuck out themselves."

"Iwashi, you traitor!" Naruto screeched in betrayal, immediately shooting up. "We can't get caught! Iruka Sensei said Genma would spank us if we ever dared sneak out!"

He had never said such a thing. He had never laid a hand on any of the children and none of his plans entailed disciplining them with physical enforcement. He left that to their parents.

"Naruto, don't you dare-"

But it was too late. The hyperactive blonde was climbing out of his open window before Genma could finish. And because they were followers and believed just about anything they were told, the rest of the children scattered to escape throughout the various different windows in his apartment, leaving the man with the teenagers and a baby.

Genma closed his eyes tightly to breathe in when even Hinata disappeared behind Naruto.

"It was supposed to have been a quiet day..." He lamented quietly, pinching the bridge of his nose in disappointment and annoyance.

He would have to chase after the children now. And once he found them, he would have to explain that he would not hurt them; that was a job for their _parents_.

Although, now that he thought about it, he may just have to do the disciplining for Sasuke and Naruto if they continued to act like this...

Breathing in heavily, Genma shook his head softly. He had never thought about raising his hand against any of the children before. And he would not do it to Sasuke or Naruto for the moment either. They were mostly good kids. And he risked ruining that if he punished them too harshly.

"Iwashi?" He asked in a strained voice, still thinking about how he would have to hunt twelve children down on what was supposed to have been a good and quiet afternoon.

"Yeah, Genma?"

The man breathed in once more to not try and throttle Kotetsu- because he couldn't hurt Iwashi while he had Hanabi in his hands. Then he opened his eyes and looked at both teenagers through narrowed eyes.

"What the hell are you doing with Hanabi?"

Iwashi glanced down at the little girl and smiled awkwardly up at Genma, "Lord Hiashi asked if you could take care of her, Hinata, and Neji for the week? He's been called up for an urgent meeting with some person or another. He has to leave the village and didn't want to leave the children in the Compound if you could look after them."

Of course.

Eyes remaining narrowed and body reading of irritation, Genma turned around. "Alright. Find Kakashi and Hana. Kotetsu, you go with Hana, and Iwashi, you go with Kakashi. Find at least three of the kids. I'm going to get the rest."

He took off to follow after Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata, whom had all gone out the nearest window, before any of the teenagers could argue against him.

And the rest of his nice afternoon was spent chasing after children and then explaining to them that as long as they behaved, he would not hurt them... It was _not_ a quiet afternoon.

* * *

"Hey, Iwashi, when's your birthday?"

Genma quirked an eyebrow at Tenten's question, but did not interrupt. It was actually pretty surprising how the kids had yet to ask him, Kotetsu, or Izumo their birthdays... Actually, now that he thought about it, they hadn't even asked Kakashi or Raidou... Even though they insisted that Genma should share his birthday with Neji, Kiba, and Sasuke during the summer months.

The teenager bounced Hanabi up and down with a soft smile as he turned to the girl. "It's on January second, Tenten. You kids missed it."

Tenten frowned as soon as the man answered. And Genma couldn't help but smirk slightly at her expression as he followed after the large crowd of kids and teenagers.

They were to go to the park to spend a day together with some of the parents, whom would join them in an hour or so to play games with their children. The kids were free from the Academy- _not skipping class_ this time around- and the Hokage had allowed the teenagers some time to hang out with the kids. Even Hana had joined up and was currently telling an amazed Rock Lee about the type of four legged taijutsu her clan chose to use in battle. Her three dogs followed after with a child on each of their backs.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba sure enjoyed being carried around by dogs.

"How about you, Hayate?" Ino questioned as she turned to look up at the teenager whose hand she was clutching.

Hayate Gekkou was a quiet, respectful, and somewhat sickly teenager that, for some reason beyond him, had managed to become the pretty boy for the four girls of the children he took care of. He'd heard Ino and Sakura fawning over his 'cool and dark' demeanor a few times now and couldn't help but feel somewhat humored by that.

Hayate wasn't quiet because he was cool and mysterious. He was quiet because he was overly shy and had a sickness that made him cough whenever he tried to speak, which had made him self conscious of his speech. And he looked like a 'pained and angst filled artist' most of the time because the girls were always hounding him to show them how awesome he was and not because he was an artistic soul.

"November second." The teenager coughed into his right hand as he looked away from Ino to not have to face those bright blue eyes, then glanced over to Iwashi as if he were asking for some kind of help.

But his friend merely smirked broadly at him before looking over at Tenten, "Why do you girls ask?"

"No reason." Sakura answered quickly, then turned to Hana. "And you, Hana-san?"

Like that they continued until the girls had heard all of the teenagers' birthdays. Genma thought it was somewhat strange that they were asking this, but he didn't really question it. Information like this wouldn't hurt. And they were most probably just finding out so they could make mass birthday parties with all of their loved ones united, much like they did for Sakura and Tenten or him, Kiba, Neji, and Sasuke, but in a larger scale.

* * *

He had been right. Before, the kids had shared birthdays if their months coincided. But if they didn't, they would throw separate birthday parties. Which, after a while had become tedious because of all the clean ups Genma would be forced to do to his apartment after each party.

Now though, Tenten and Ino were armed with a last of all of their loved ones individual birthdays- at least of the teenagers, kids, and Genma- and were prepared to throw large birthday bashes three times a year.

Now they were in the midst of preparing the largest birthday party to this date, one for Shino, Tenten, Sakura, Chouji, Hana, Iwashi, and Hanabi. Their birthdays spanned from January all the way to May and were being thrown in an easy medium between all of them, February 10th.

Tenten was turning nine, Shino, Sakura, and Chouji eight, it was Hanabi's first birthday, Hana fourteen, and Iwashi nineteen.

The kids were all excited, Hana and Iwashi were more than content to share their birthdays with them, and Hanabi was bubbling in joy at having so many people with her. Apparently, unlike her sister and cousin, the baby was a people person.

"Are you sure you want to let the kids decorate for the birthday, Genma?" Kizashi asked worriedly as he walked towards the man, eyes never leaving his daughter as the girl forced Hayate to help her set up the pink streamers she had bought.

It was amazing to see how much the young girl had changed over the years. She had been quiet and shy when they'd first met. And she was still rather quiet, but she wasn't as painfully shy anymore. And she wasn't all that afraid of telling the boys what she wanted them to do anymore, having learned from Ino and Tenten that boys were idiots and always needed guidance.

"It's not a bother, Kizashi." Genma smiled over at him with a shrug, "It would be an unnecessary fight if I tried to stop them, you know."

"I'm still marveling at the fact that they have yet to make us older people share with them." Raidou offered as he walked up to both of them, a glass of soda in his hand. "Poor teens, though. Wasting their awkward years playing babysitters."

Both other men ignored the scarred male, not even bothering to answer the rather cynical observation. If the teenagers did not like to hang around the children, they were not being forced to help out. They did so of their own volition. And their help was more than accepted because twelve kids were quite the handful.

His apartment was filled to the brim with people helping out to prepare it for the upcoming birthday. Even Guy and Ebisu had come along to help. Even though Guy was under the strict orders to _never_ bring those green monstrosities into Genma's home anymore. If he did, it would be the end of him.

The party went extremely well and all of the kids enjoyed their time together. And Genma couldn't help but smile like an idiot throughout the whole time they celebrated, glad to see every single person in his apartment so happy and content.

* * *

Guy followed the orders rather well... Until Lee walked up to him and asked if he truly was as good at taijutsu as Scarecrow had said.

Genma had to be stopped by Shikaku, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Choza from using Guy as a human pin cushion all the while he ran off with a broadly smiling Lee.

The next time he saw the bubbly child, his hair and face were still the same, although he wore that disgusting green eyesore with clear pride.

* * *

A few uneventful years passed after the Uchiha massacre and Torune's kidnapping. And for that, Genma was grateful. He wasn't sure if he would have been able to survive so many years of traumatic event after traumatic event.

He was sent on a few out of village missions, although he stayed inside the village working under Ibiki most of the time. And this really wasn't a problem because the man understood that he couldn't just drop everything and leave the village like many other shinobi, so Ibiki tried his best to keep him inside the village walls whenever he had the power to do so.

A few months after the massacre, Inoichi had finally handed over the reigns of his organization over to his greatest protege. And everyone knew the reason why. Inoichi had been so struck by Itachi's sudden betrayal that he had decided life was too short to continue working himself ragged on weekdays and spend time with only Ino on weekends.

Ino had been ecstatic when her father had told her this. And whenever her father was around the flower shop with nothing much to do, the blonde girl insisted on dragging Genma and whatever child happened to be with them that day to visit the Yamanaka shop. It really gladdened Genma to see how happy Ino was now that her father was around more often.

Naruto and Sasuke had adapted extremely well to suddenly being brothers. Over the years, they had developed a system to help Genma out with the housework so the man would only have to do the day's cooking before they could all relax and work on the kids' homework. And Genma couldn't have been prouder of the fact that the two worked so well together.

In school, the children were all doing well. Even Rock Lee, who had once been stricken down as the least likely to graduate, now got B's and C's because of Neji and Tenten's tutoring. And after having finally been placed together in the same classroom (after much fighting from Genma's end and lack of understanding from the school teachers), the three were well on their way to their graduation day.

"I want a bandanna like your own, Stranger!"

Genma smiled down at the twelve year old looking at him with determination and awe, then ruffled his wavy black hair and winked, "Don't you think Guy might be the tiniest bit insulted by that?"

"Guy Sensei will totally understand, Stranger!"

Every single sentence of his ended with an exclamation point. But seeing how his genin teammate had been _Might_ _Guy_ , Genma wasn't really all that bothered by the volume.

For some reason, even after he had become a usual in Genma's life like the rest of the kids, Lee insisted on calling him Stranger. Much like the rest of the children called him Gen-Gen or Farmer man. Although Shikamaru still insisted on calling him by his real name.

(Genma had a fleeting suspicion that in a year or two, the kids would stop calling him by the nicknames. Once they hit their teenage years, they'd most probably be too cool to use such childish names. And he didn't mind that at all. He had been an awkward and gangly teenager once. He could understand the need to get away from childish things.)

"Come on, Lee. We're going to be late for the team assignments!"

Tenten ran up to him and Lee, sporting her brand new hitai-ite with a broad smile. She was wearing the standard headband, seeing how she still wasn't sure if she wanted to go through the hassle of forcing her buns lower on her head for the headpiece.

It was still amazing to Genma how much yet how little the kids had changed in the last few years. Tenten was now twelve and wore a pink kimono styled shirt without sleeves with dark blue pants. Lee, under Guy's influence, wore a tight green monstrosity with bandages on his hands. And Neji a khaki shirt with its collar up, short brown pants, and a bandanna styled forehead protector. He had been the only one to fully adopt Genma's style. And it hadn't been easy, seeing how his teachers had wanted all the genin to wear the same style of hitai-ite for the graduation picture.

"Do you think we'll be put on the same team, Tenten-chan?" Neji asked as he walked up behind the girl, then turned to look at Genma. "Did you have any say in team assignments?"

He had. With these three and with the rest of the children he took care of. The Hokage had been worried about possible outcomes of separating the children or giving them possibly bad teachers. So the man had asked for his input and taken every word Genma had with utmost severity.

But the kids didn't need to know that.

With a shrug, Genma turned to look behind him and found that the eleven year old kids were making a huge mess in the playground, screaming and shouting and scaring just about everyone away from them.

"Not _one day_ of peace..." He lamented with a soft sigh, then whistled sharply.

Upon hearing the whistle, most of the children stopped rough housing and turned to look at him with wide eyes. But Naruto and Ino continued bickering, which made Genma frown. Then, with utmost precision, he spit out the senbon in his mouth and smirked when it forced its way between both blondes and impaled itself in the slide behind them.

"We're going to be late for the ceremony." He called out, "Let's get going. I thought you all wanted to see your friends graduate."

It didn't take much convincing after that to get the kids to move.

~/~

The ceremony went first and was used for the friends and family of all graduating academy students to see the new genin sporting their pride. Then would be the team assignments, but that was only for the graduating students, Hokage, and teacher to be jounin.

Getting the kids to understand that they could not join their older friends in their team assignment had been a hassle. But, luckily enough, Guy and Kakashi managed to convince them to head on back to the apartment and wait for their friends there.

They had mostly busied themselves reading up on the jutsu Iruka Sensei had given them at the end of the school year so they could be prepared for their last year in the Academy and had not caused Genma too many headaches.

No, the headaches came once Tenten, Neji, and Lee returned to his apartment.

"You did this, Genma-san! We are sure of it!"

He had known this would come. And he had been ecstatic to see the outcome of what he had told the Hokage.

"Might Guy! _Our Sensei_! How could you do this to us, Farmer man?! I thought you were supposed to love us!" Tenten ran into the apartment with awe and fear, only to be followed by a broadly smiling Guy and Lee.

"We are on the same team, Tenten-chan, Neji-kun! And we will be the greatest genin team to ever roam this plane!"

The smirk that Genma allowed to come over his face was filled with both humor and pride. He had known Neji and Tenten would both hate being placed on a team with _Might Guy_ , but it would help them build character. And the fact that the kids on the team knew each other and worked extremely well together certainly wouldn't hurt.

Besides, out of all the teachers offered for the kids, Guy had _not_ been the worst.

* * *

Over the years, Genma had become accustomed to finding the kids in his apartment at times he would not have expected them. So he had grown accustomed to expecting the unexpected, even when the days seemed to be the most normal of days.

This was the reason why when he entered his home to find the older kids of the children he normally took care of cowering in various places of his home, he wasn't really fazed.

"Tenten, why are you hiding in the cupboard?" He asked as he opened his refrigerator to begin to make dinner for the rest of the children.

For even though he was tired after a hard day's work at T&I, he was more than aware that his day never ended after his job. Even though they were now on the cusp of becoming genin, the children still insisted on hanging out at his apartment after school like they had done for the past five years. And even though the apartment truly was becoming too small to house all of them, none seemed to mind and looked for interesting new ways to be comfortable in his apartment.

Shino and Ino sometimes even took turns sleeping up on his refrigerator because they were too big now to fit together.

The twelve year old girl was hidden inside of his cupboard, which he found out when he opened it to grab spices for the meal he was going to make. Neji was nowhere to be found. Lee, though, was hidden behind his couch. And doing a rather bad job of hiding, seeing how his feet were sticking out from where he was cowering.

"Because Guy Sensei is a psychopath!" Tenten squeaked out, eyes wide as she looked back at Genma's mostly indifferent face. "He wanted us to run fifty laps around the village. _On our hands_ , Farmer man! _Our hands_!"

"You know he's always been rather obsessive." Genma cocked an eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest, jutting his hip to the side slightly to try and look like a figure of discipline.

He'd tried this same pose out many times before. Usually with the more boisterous children, it didn't work. Although sometimes it did and they listened. Even though those times were few and far between.

"But he's never been this insane!" Lee suddenly shouted as he ran up to Genma, hugging him tightly to his body. "Please, Stranger, you cannot allow Guy Sensei to find us! I am terrified of dying! I have not yet lived!"

And from somewhere deep inside his apartment, Neji added his own two cents. "He is insane and I never want to see him again! Genma-san, you are pure evil for having assigned him to us!"

Genma breathed in and patted Lee's head softly before motioning for Tenten to get out of his cupboard. "Come out please."

She shook her head wildly, though. "You'll just return us to that monster!"

"Please do not do that, Genma-san! We will be good kids!" Neji pleaded from his hiding place, still not showing himself.

Taking in a deep breath to center himself, Genma smiled softly at the girl before him. "I won't tell Guy. Promise. It'll be our little secret."

Tenten smiled broadly as soon as she heard this then threw herself at Genma to hug him tightly. "Thank you, Gen-Gen!"

"But it's just for today!" He tried to warn, only to be ignored and for Neji to appear from his living room even though Genma had not even sensed him there before, "Wait a minute, where did you come from?"

But he received no answer. The three genin were just happy to hear that they would not be forced to deal with their insane teacher for the day.

~/~

During the night, Sasuke opened their home's door after a rapid series of knocks had broken through the silence reached while he, Naruto, and Genma prepared to go to bed. And he found Might Guy looking rather frazzled, looking from one spot to another as if he were looking for something.

"Sasuke! Have you seen Lee, Tenten, and Neji? I lost them hours ago and have not been able to find them again!"

The Uchiha looked back at the worried man with steady disinterest, "Not at all." Then he slammed the door in his face and turned around to walk back towards his room to get dressed.

Once he had finished dressing in his pijamas, he knocked on the bathroom door to tell Naruto to hurry up, he wanted to go to bed, then turned and walked towards Genma's room. He wanted to ask the man if he could speak with Ebisu about a series of fire release jutsu he wanted to learn so that the nerd could come around some day to help him out.

Because he was so accustomed to not having to knock after years of waltzing around this apartment without a care, Sasuke threw Genma's door open without any hesitation. He expected to find Genma either sleeping or preparing to go to bed. What he found, though, was neither.

"I know he's insane, kids, but you can't possibly hide inside of my bed covers for the rest of your lives. Don't you want to become chunin?" Genma asked as he looked onto his bed, which had three rather sizeable lumps hidden beneath his sheets.

Sasuke blinked at the odd thing Genma had said, but was further surprised when Neji's head popped out of the sheets to glare viciously at the man.

"I would rather be blind than have to go through yet another day of training with that savage!" The Hyuga hissed with pure venom, then covered his head once more with the sheets. Then Tenten's head appeared, frowning heavily, "Seriously, Gen-Gen, how could you do this to us? Even _Lee's_ terrified of the man!" And then her head disappeared as well, even though Lee's did not come out.

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at the odd things they were saying, then looked over at Genma and cleared his throat to make his presence known. Genma turned to look at him and frowned softly, although three heads popped out of his blankets in unison.

With all four of them looking at him, Sasuke simply said, "Guy came looking for those three. I slammed the door in his face."

"Sasuke!" Genma sounded like he was about to scold him, but Tenten flying over to hug him tightly stopped him.

"Thank you, Sasuke! You're now my favorite munchkin!"

"You're only a year old than me."

"Still a munchkin." Tenten smiled broadly, then looked at Genma. "Let us stay the night?"

Sasuke didn't bother to glare at Tenten after she had finished. And he didn't even look at Genma as he motioned for Neji and Lee to accompany him, "You know the drill. Come and get your sleeping bags."

* * *

It had taken quite a few conversations and threats, but eventually Genma was able to make Guy understand that he could not, no matter how excited he was, push three newly minted genin to run _fifty laps around Konoha on their hands_.

Genma had known that his friend would be over joyed at having his first genin team, especially because he knew all of them extremely well and how to work with them. And he had expected him to go kind of over board. But he had not expected for his insanity to be so... Well... _Insane_. Although, in retrospect, he really should have expected it.

"Listen, Guy, you know you can't really push the kids so far. They've just become genin." Genma sighed as Guy looked intently back at him, hand on his chin while he nodded almost violently to his words. "Lee already follows you blindly because; for some reason beyond me; he trusts you. Neji and Tenten are strong and disciplined, they _want_ to get stronger. But you can't push them so harshly straight out of the gate. That will only end up with them running away from you."

"I see, Genma." Guy hummed as he closed his eyes, then suddenly jumped out of his chair to point at the sky, all the while causing the tea cups they had been drinking from to rattle at the motion. "I shall make them run _twenty five_ -"

He hadn't finished speaking before Genma kicked his left shin, forcing him to sit down and look at his friend in betrayal. Genma looked back at him with a disinterested glare, "Five laps. On their feet. Like normal people." He deadpanned, then rolled his eyes at the horrified gasp the other male let out. "You can build them up to fifty, man. But you can't start them off with fifty. You understand, right?"

"But how will they ever get stronger if I do not push-"

Another swift kick stopped the man from continuing. "Guy, how long have these kids been genin?"

"Not even a month." The man answered softly, causing Genma to nod.

"Exactly. Did Choza Sensei have us running around to make us stronger right off the bat?"

"No..."

"What did he have us doing?"

Genma was hoping that by forcing Guy to answer these questions, he would come to the realization of what he had to first do with the kids before he forced them into vigorous training like running fifty laps.

"Team building exercises to build trust between all of us..." Guy murmured softly, then, after a second of not moving, he suddenly shot up into the air with a broad smile. "I must get them to trust me even more before I force them to work as hard as they can! I should build up their character before their bodies!"

"There you go." Genma smiled and was about to get up to walk Guy out of his apartment, but was stopped by the man enveloping him in a bone crushing hug that literally took his breath away. "Guy! Can't breathe!"

"Thank you, Genma!" His gasped shouts were ignored, apparently. "I shall implement this new style of training immediately! Before the end of this month, these kids will _want_ to run those fifty laps with me!"

Genma highly doubted that. But he wasn't able to tell his friend that, seeing how he was currently struggling to get enough oxygen into his lungs.

~/~

"You talked with Guy Sensei."

"Yup."

"He now wants us to go through with team building exercises."

"So I heard, Neji."

"... Genma-san, he wishes to embark on a month long trip to the Land of Snow to make us survive in the cold wilderness with only our wits and strength."

Genma was actually surprised by this. But he smiled over at the annoyed Hyuga and patted his covered head softly.

"Be sure to pack some extremely warm clothes."

* * *

After Genma had spoken with Guy, the three oldest children weren't as terrified of the hyperactive man. They still hid out in Genma's apartment whenever the 'insane psychopath'- Neji's words, not his- decided to try out a particularly difficult or harsh training program, but those moments didn't happen as often as Genma would have thought they would.

Quite frankly, when the Hokage had asked him about which teams would be the best for the children, along with which teachers, Genma had totally expected Team Guy to revolt. He had believed there would be some kind of movement against Guy within the first months to remove him from his spot as their teacher.

But it seemed that years worth of tolerating all kinds of insanity from their friends had made Neji and Tenten patient. For they stuck around most of the time, going through with Guy's rigorous training schedule without fighting it... _Too much_.

Now it was time for the rest of the children to graduate. Brandishing their brand new forehead protectors with complete pride, nine kids chattered excitedly with each other as they all walked towards the Academy to receive their team assignments.

These kids should be a bit more happy and less terrified of the teachers they were given. Especially considering how the team assignments had played out and the kids had been assigned to a team that played with their strengths and weaknesses almost flawlessly.

But even with these hopes, Genma was sure of one thing: These kids, just like Team Guy, would hide out in his apartment at some point or another to shirk their genin duties.

He just hadn't been aware of how often this would be.

* * *

After they had all become genin, Genma found himself with an overflow of children. It seemed like they never wanted to train with their actual teachers. Which made no real sense, seeing how most of them truly knew their teachers. The only ones that _didn't_ were Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru, but the rest had no excuses.

It didn't take long for Asuma to catch onto where his team went to avoid training and D-Ranks. Literally, it only took him _a week_ to begin to appear at his doorstep whenever Team Ten decided to not appear for training or missions.

The worst part about this whole 'skipping team training' fiasco was that Genma wasn't sure how he should deal with it. Team Guy usually always wound up at his apartment when Guy wanted to try out something insane with them, so Genma couldn't turn them away. And Team Seven appeared mostly when Kakashi was more than three hours late to their assigned meeting place, and he couldn't blame them for getting fed up. Team Eight and Team Ten were the ones that showed up the least, but still did so with enough frequency and good reasoning that the man was left at his wit's end.

How could he turn them away when they all had such perfectly good reasons to leave their training?

"He's an Inuzuka, Kurenai. You can't expect him to chase after a cat without losing _some_ semblance of control. And of course Akamaru would want to bite the little jerk, he's a dog."

The dark haired woman seated before him was not amused with his answer. But what else could Genma tell her? That he would tell Kiba to _not_ chase after 52, even though that was the cat he and Akamaru hated the most? That would be a lie and he wasn't about to say it just to make her happy.

"Kurenai, you should be happy Kiba's at least completing missions. Shikamaru and Chouji are always stuck with their heads so far up in the clouds that it takes Ino and I to complete missions. _If_ she's feeling nice." Asuma murmured with narrowed eyes, making Genma look over at him apologetically.

"They've always been dreamers."

Kakashi sighed heavily, motioning with his hand to force all four other people around the dinner table to look at him. "I have no real problems with my team other than the fact that Sakura won't stop talking about Hayate and Sasuke, Sasuke won't stop sneaking off to get lessons from Ebisu, and Naruto keeps trying to haggle me into buying ramen. Fix 'em, why don't you?"

"You know I'm not their teacher, right?" Genma asked sardonically, "These problems have nothing to do with them running away to my apartment and staying there. You, as their teachers, also have to put some effort into making them become proper shinobi."

"But they don't listen to _us_ , Genma." Kurenai almost shouted in exasperation, "Unless you tell them, they won't stop! And you cannot deny that their little escapades to your apartment have been happening more frequently."

"I'm not a miracle worker."

"Try."

* * *

"You could always just, you know, kick them out."

Genma rolled his eyes at Kotetsu's seemingly blunt and harsh words as he downed a cup of sake.

No longer a gangly teenager, Kotetsu was a healthy grown man with a prank streak a mile wide. And that prank streak was intertwined with Naruto's own, seeing how they were prank buddies... That had just gotten in trouble with the Hokage a couple of hours ago for having turned the water in the hot springs _green_.

Instead of training, Naruto was pranking with Kotetsu. Sakura and Sasuke were learning _something_... But not with Kakashi. No, they took time out of Ebisu's busy schedule to make him teach them jutsu he was proficient with so they could be as well.

"Last time I did that, you helped Naruto and Kiba deface the Hokage mountains." He murmured softly, only to have his back slapped proudly by the other male.

"And it took Izumo's starchy syrup jutsu to stop us! No jounin or chunin was able to catch us until he came along!"

"That's not something to be proud of, Ko. You keep getting these kids in trouble." Izumo sighed from Kotetsu's side, which had his friend sticking his tongue out at him.

"It helps build character."

Genma had once known these two as teenagers. But now they were full grown men that still, _somehow_ , for some reason beyond Genma, wound up sleeping in his apartment every now and then. This was one of those nights they had muscled their way into his home with Iwashi and Hayate's help, leaving him no other choice but to let them stay over.

"You're childish."

"And you're boring." Kotetsu stuck his tongue out at his friend, which made him roll his eyes and sigh sarcastically.

"Hard to understand why you've never had a girlfriend."

"Hey you-"

"Kotetsu, sit down." Iwashi appeared behind the older male to push him back down onto his chair before he could attack his friend, then looked over at Genma. "You could always just leave your apartment until the kids are gone. That way you won't get in trouble for housing them willingly."

Hayate walked up from the kitchen with the plates of food he and Iwashi had just made to set them down on the table. "The Hokage and sensei keep getting angry with you because you don't turn them away."

"But they can't be angry with you if you were never home to begin with!" Izumo finished for them with a gasp, then smiled broadly at the older male. "Genma, I think this is the only way you'd be able to save yourself."

Genma looked him over for a second, then at the rest of the males with him, before sighing and hanging his head.

"I guess trying that out won't hurt."

* * *

It hurt. _A lot_. But it didn't hurt Genma. Instead it hurt the teachers that had to become even more creative when it came to hunting their kids down because they found new and strange places to hide from them.

Seriously, Anko had found Ino, Kiba, and Naruto hiding from their respective teachers in the _Forest of Death_ on a routine check up of the place. _The Forest of Death_.

* * *

..~..~..

I call a moment for celebration, for this story has passed 100 reviews! Thank you amazing readers for all of the love, loyalty, and pure awesomeness. I'm glad to know that you all believe this story is truly worth your time and I wish to continue making you happy with the chapters I write!

Hope you all enjoyed this! Please review.


	14. Chapter 14

_Chapter 14: Growing Pains:_ The children were no longer children. They were official shinobi and could not continue playing around as if they were still in the Academy. Genma was sure of this and did his best to try and help. He wanted them to be able to survive their missions, after all. And it seemed to work, for the most part, although with a few unforeseen consequences.

..~..~..

"Naruto, would you like to go and get some ramen?"

The kids were still giving their teachers a headache. So Genma had decided that keeping them happy and content wasn't worth it anymore. The little mongrels were abusing of his kindness and getting themselves in trouble. And while this may have been fine while younger, they were only really harming themselves in the long run. If they missed training, they wouldn't learn. And if they didn't learn, they would not be able to protect themselves in the battle field.

They may all have pretty good excuses for wanting to stay away from their teachers. Neji, Tenten, and Lee specifically. And Naruto's team had a pretty- No. He couldn't go down this train of thought once more. It had been difficult enough to get to this conclusion. He couldn't be psyching himself out so early.

The rest of Genma's friends agreed with him, aside from Kotetsu, of course. The hyperactive man wanted the children to continue running around and causing mayhem. Especially because he helped them get away with most of the evil things they planned. But the rest believed that he needed to just bite the kunai and set the kids straight as soon as possible.

And the best way to start this would be by speaking with the kids closest to him, Naruto and Sasuke.

"Would I!" The blonde shouted out, then pushed Sasuke away from the scroll he had been reading and towards the door. "Let's go, Genma! Quickly now, Sasuke! We need to take advantage of his concussion before it wears off!"

He did _not_ have a concussion... He allowed himself to go home with one _once_ and suddenly he was only ever nice when injured... Stupid Izumo for telling his kids the truth...

Both boys ran to Ichiraku's in a race. Genma followed lazily, although he kept pace with them to make sure they didn't do anything that may put his plan in jeopardy.

Luckily for him, the rest of the parents had agreed to help him with his plans. To set them straight, he would need to cut off the head of the monster. Or, in this case, the heads. The first two were Sasuke and Naruto. The other three were Tenten, Kiba, and Ino. But he would get to them later. First, he would need to get these two in order.

When they reached the ramen place, Genma nodded at Teuchi and Ayame. Both cooks were aware of what he wanted to do and had agreed to help him out. They loved all of his kids and did not really want to cause them any distress. But they understood that they were only hurting themselves with their actions. So they were more than happy to take part in straightening them out.

"The regulars please, Old Man!" Naruto ordered with a broad smile as he sat down.

"Naruto, you really shouldn't be so rude to Teuchi-san." Sasuke chided softly while he took the stool to the blonde's left, leaving Genma to sit to his right.

"Three regulars coming right up!" Teuchi chuckled softly as he looked over at Genma, sending a subtle wink his way.

The senbon enthusiast smirked back and settled into his stool, content to just listen in to Naruto's chatter and give a few opinions while Teuchi and Ayame did their part.

~/~

"Ah! That was delicious!"

They had finished eating. Naruto was more than happy to have gotten to eat his favorite food. And Sasuke was smiling subtly, just as happy. Even though he'd never said it aloud, after years of living with Naruto, he had adopted a few of his likes. And he now loved Ichiraku's almost as much as the boisterous blonde.

"Thank you very much, Teuchi-san, Ayame-chan." Genma thanked them both with a soft nod of his head, then looked over at both his kids. "Hey, you two, are you feeling alright?"

"What do you mean, Farmer man?" Naruto cocked his head to the side, reminding Genma a lot of Kiba when the Inuzuka was confused... Birds of a feather... "I feel fine."

He smirked.

Naruto's head cocked even further until it was almost touching his shoulder.

A few seconds of silence passed.

And Sasuke gasped out.

"You poisoned us!"

Genma's smirk grew as he stood up calmly, "I did."

"What?!"

It was nothing dangerous. A subtle poison used to paralyze targets for a few minutes. It was one of the first poisons a ninja learning this specific art was introduced to. And in the doses Sasuke and Naruto had been given, all it would do was make them feel warm and uncomfortable. And _maybe_ it would leave one of them frozen. But not for long.

Not like they needed to know.

"Why?!" Sasuke shouted, jumping up to his feet with wide eyes.

"To test you, of course." Genma answered simply, taking one step back. "You have been genin for a while now. And you're _Kakashi's_ students. The skills you should possess by now should be enough for you to take the antidote from me to stop the poison from affecting you _too harshly_." He took out two vials of clear liquid from his pocket, shaking them with a sly smirk.

"I don't want to die!"

Naruto lunged at him without any hesitation. But Genma easily dodged the swipe and turned his back to them.

"You have half an hour before you're whole body becomes paralyzed."

And he took off.

~/~

The two were good. They worked together rather well and used each other's advantages to make up for whatever disadvantages they possessed. It was easy to tell that they worked together often enough.

But they were reckless and _unbelievably unrefined_.

Sasuke ended up destroying _two_ fruit carts with his fire release attacks. And Naruto broke quite a few doors with his brute force.

By the end of the thirty minutes, both boys fell to the floor with twin shouts of surprise. And Genma resisted the urge to roll his eyes at their paralysis as he walked up to them.

"Why would you do this to us, Genma?" Sasuke gasped out, breath heavy and face red.

Naruto was fairing better for his face wasn't as red, although his breathing was harsher. But Genma guessed that this was because of the hidden resident inside of his body.

"To teach you a lesson." He answered honestly as he crossed his arms over his chest, "I wasn't even _trying_ , just running. If you two were better equipped as ninja, you would have been able to formulate a plan to catch me and act it flawlessly in _less_ than the time I gave you." He frowned deeply as both of them looked away from him.

" _All of you_ have been skipping out on your ninja training. And I won't stand for it anymore. I _refuse_ to be the reason why one of you does not return home one day. You run from your responsibilities and your teachers. And I won't let it happen _any longer_." He crouched down between both of them and made sure to look Sasuke straight in the eyes before doing the same to Naruto, "Next time I hear _either_ of you skip out on lessons with Kakashi, I will up the dose."

With the threat, he straightened up and threw the vials at their sides. "And as further punishment to make sure to get this lesson through your thick skulls, you're grounded for a week. And you have to do _all_ the housework. Or else, there will be a repeat episode."

* * *

A week after this, Kakashi appeared inside of his room without any qualms about it being midnight and Genma wanting to _sleep_. The younger male shook the senbon enthusiast awake and with a joy Genma couldn't really understand at the moment, thanked him.

Apparently, Naruto and Sasuke had learned their lesson. And Sakura, after having heard what had happened to them, had decided she didn't want to test Genma's patience with her and went along with Sasuke and Naruto in following Kakashi's instructions.

Although, now they all wanted to be taught about poisons and how to use them.

* * *

The following head Genma was to cut off ended up being Tenten. And it was a rather simple thing to do. Instead of having to make elaborate plans that would force her to see the light, all he had to do was threaten with his good friend, Might Guy. Luckily for him, Neji and Lee had been there as well.

While Lee couldn't really count as one of the heads of the great monster that was the group of kids he took care of, Neji _could_. He didn't really incite as much chaos as Tenten or the others. But he still had the power to convince the rest of his friends to follow him with precise and well thought out words. So having him there made sure that he and Tenten both would behave.

"Follow everything he says unless you want me to start giving him training ideas."

"You wouldn't _dare_."

Tenten had hissed.

Genma had calmly sipped at his morning coffee.

Neji and Lee had just watched the interaction in slight awe and worry.

"You kids remember how Guy wanted to start you off with fifty laps around Konoha on your hands?"

They had all nodded.

"And you remember how I talked him out of it?"

Once more they nodded.

"Think I should tell him you're ready?"

They all quickly promised to try and not skip any more training sessions.

* * *

Kiba and Ino were the last he had to take care of. And he had prepared quite the elaborate plan concerning explosive tags and putting Akamaru and Inoichi in peril (it would have all been act, he would never truly put those two in dangers way). But before he could go through with it, both Team 8 and Team 10 went to his apartment with a picnic prepared and invited him to go eat and be part of a joint training exercise.

He would have considered this odd, had Asuma and Kurenai not been there to ensure this was not some kind of dangerous plot to retaliate against him.

First he had watched over the kids as they sparred and tried to win points for either team. Team 8 had won, but that had been simply because Shikamaru was too lazy to care, Chouji didn't want to hurt his friends, and Hinata's Byakugan gave her an extreme leg up on Ino.

After that, he had gone against Asuma to show them proper forms in some of the attacks they had used and let Chouji know that there was nothing wrong in fighting against friends if it was to help each other improve.

Then they had ate the lunch Chouji, Hinata, and Asuma had prepared. As they had eaten, both Ino and Kiba had walked up to him and sat down in front of him.

"We won't skip out on training anymore." Ino began, eyes wide. "You don't have to do anything to us."

Genma quirked an eyebrow as soon as he heard this, then glanced over at Kiba. The Inuzuka frowned and Akamaru whined softly, "We know what you did to Sasuke and Naruto. And how you threatened Team Guy. We'll be good. Promise."

He found it hard to believe that these two would not incite any kind of rebellion against their teachers. But they seemed honest enough. And if they ever tried anything, he had quite a few tricks up his sleeves to stop them.

With a small smile, Genma nodded and patted both their heads, "Good. Now why don't we have another round of matches after lunch, but this time for a prize?"

Both immediately agreed to this. And the rest quickly followed suit, clearly interested in whatever prize Genma thought giving them.

~/~

The winner of the matches was Shino. And his prize was (after convincing Kurenai) a day off to hang out with Kotetsu while the rest of the kids went out on a joint training trip.

After this, the kids began to ask to hold little tournaments for whatever prize Genma thought of. And this was when Genma noticed that, maybe, he should have tried this tournament style option before having scared the piss out of the other kids.

... Eh... You live and you learn.

* * *

A few weeks after the kids had finally begun to pay attention to their ninja training, Genma felt like bashing his head against the wall.

"What are you doing here?"

"They want us to go on a training trip together!" Naruto shouted from his spot hidden inside his bed.

"What's so bad about that? You just finished up a training tournament last week!"

"And remember that I want a good prize!" Kiba popped up from beside Naruto, then quickly hid inside his covers once more.

... It was like with Team Guy all over again... But this time _all_ twelve of the kids were hiding in various spots of his apartment.

"But they want Guy to lead it! He's insane!" Sakura squeaked from inside his closest, only for Hinata to follow and gasp out, "I do not want to die yet, Genma-san!"

"And I want my sister and cousin to live!"

"Is Hanabi in there with you two?" He questioned in actual surprise, before groaning in frustration. "She's supposed to be in the Academy!"

All of the kids remained hidden after this. Naruto, Kiba, Lee, and Chouji all remained inside of his covers even though they were much too big to fit comfortably. Hinata, Sakura, and Hanabi- who _should not_ have been there- remained in the closet. And the rest of the kids stayed in their hiding places, apparently adamant about not wanting to go on a trip led by Guy.

Not even threatening them with bodily harm was enough...

~/~

He ended up convincing the teachers to not have Guy lead the thing. He was still much too insane for them to want to follow him.

They conceded without too much problem and instead had Kurenai and Asuma plan the whole thing.

* * *

"Genma! My daughter is dying!"

After years of continuous abuse, it was a miracle that Genma's door had yet to give up and collapse beneath the force of being thrown around by the shinobi that invaded the man's apartment.

Weeks after the kids' relapse, Genma had been content to believe that they may have finally learned to deal with their problems on their own.

Inoichi, though, was apparently another matter.

Looking up from the card game he had been playing with Kiba, Shino, and Iwashi, Genma found Inoichi standing at his doorway with a furiously blushing Ino in his arms.

"What are you rambling about, Inoichi?"

Through the years, he had come to know that the Yamanaka was one of the more excitable parents. And because he was a single parent, he was around often enough, asking for help when it came to his daughter. But after she had turned ten, Genma had thought that he had finally gotten the hang of the whole 'parenting' wrong.

He had been known to be wrong before.

"My daughter's dying!" The blonde shouted once more, tears brimming in his eyes. "She's bleeding and it won't stop!"

"Dad!"

Ino's face was a scarlet red Genma had never seen on her before. But even as she struggled to get out of her father's grip, the man did not let her go.

"What should I do, Genma?! I don't know what to do!"

He was honestly completely confused and taken aback by whatever it was that Inoichi was shouting about. But it seemed that Kiba was not.

"Dude, she's not dying. Chill out." The Inuzuka groaned out with a roll of his eyes as he threw his cards onto the table, "All you've got to do is buy some stuff from the pharmacy."

Inoichi stared at him in perplexion for a few seconds. Then the man moved quickly, grabbed the Inuzuka, threw him over his shoulder as he shifted to grab Ino around her waist, then took off running.

"Tell me everything!"

And they were gone. Genma blinked at his open doorway for a bit before sighing and standing up to close it.

"Everyone I know is insane..." He lamented softly, which made Iwashi call out, "But you love us!"

Suddenly Akamaru barked out from Kiba's seat, pushing a card onto the center of the table to signify that he wanted to continue with the game.

Playing a card game with a dog... Wouldn't be the oddest thing he had done if he was being honest.

* * *

Ino was _not_ dying. He was more than sure of this. But Inoichi Yamanaka was kind of an idiot when it came to his daughter. And Kiba wasn't really the best in explaining feminine stuff. But he knew exactly what was happening with the girl. He lived with two girls, after all. And he was always forced to go out and buy their supplies whenever they were feeling too angry with the world to out themselves.

"Here. These are Hana's favorite." Kiba murmured as he handed the different colored boxes to his blonde friend, whom was still blushing brighter than he had ever seen.

"And what are these for? How are you supposed to use them? Am I supposed to help in any-"

"Dad! _Please!_ " Ino shouted in exasperation, seeming to shrink into herself as her father jumped in sudden shock. "Can we please just go pay?"

Kiba had never heard Ino sound so embarrassed... She sounded as if she were close to tears.

Sighing softly, Kiba shoved his hands into his pockets as he followed after the blonde. But once they were close to the cashier, he saw Ino hesitate and take one step back. So he followed her line of sight and breathed in deeply before exhaling and walking up to her.

In Ino's eyes, the teenage boy must have been cute.

"Give them here."

The blonde turned to him with wide eyes, "Kiba, what-"

But he swiped the boxes away from her before she could finish the sentence. And he walked up to the cashier and placed them down on the counter as quickly as he could, ignoring the burning he felt on the back of his head as Ino undoubtedly stared at him.

"So quick, Inuzuka?" The teen asked with slight surprise.

"Ma wants to make sure she's got enough supplies for next month." He shrugged softly, "And it's best to have her happy than have her sic Kuromaru on me."

This was his family's favorite pharmacy. They allowed dogs inside and were good friends with the Inuzuka. And it was the only establishment that stocked his family's favorite brand of feminine supplies. Besides, they had the best jerky.

~/~

When they got back to Genma's apartment, Inoichi thrust them both into the bathroom. He didn't stop to explain anything to Genma. Instead he just shoved both Kiba and Ino inside (after quickly threatening them to not try anything funny- which made them both gag) and begged Kiba to make Ino better.

Once they were inside the confines of the bathroom they had both used almost as often as the ones in their own home, Ino shifted awkwardly. Kiba didn't know why she was so embarrassed, but he knew that Hana had been the same way when she had gone through her first time.

Maybe it was a chick thing.

Shifting from one foot to the other, Kiba decided to be the first to speak. If he waited, he may just have been stuck in here for longer than an hour.

"So you see these?" Kiba pointed at the green box they had bought, "These are Hana's favorite. Says they're the best for kunoichi in the field. They don't move around or whatever..." He began to feel somewhat awkward when Ino's bright and trustful eyes bore into him, a blush spreading up on his cheeks, "But she didn't start to wear them until she was fourteen... So... Uh... I guess you should start off with these."

He picked up the blue box, "These are pads. You uh..." Okay, he was starting to understand why Ino had been so embarrassed by her father's actions. "They go on your underwear. They've got a sticky part. And you put them so they're able to catch... Uh... You know..."

She was looking at him like Akamaru had when they'd first met. It was making feel like he wasn't giving this whole thing the importance _she was_.

"Kiba..."

"I'm not really the best to help with this kind of thing!" He took a step back as he put the boxes back onto the lid of the toilet, then looked down at the floor to not have to see Ino. "Why didn't your dad bring you to a woman or something?"

There was a moment of silence that made Kiba feel as if he were about to be crushed under the awkward. Then he felt two arms wrapping around him as Ino pulled him into a hug.

" _Thank you_."

His face was as red as Ino's had been at this point. But he just patted her back awkwardly, "No problem... What else are friends for?"

"For pranking and to command, of course." Ino smiled at him as she let him go, then moved to grab the blue box. "Shikamaru and Chouji's moms are both outside of the house. And my dad freaked when I asked him for some help... He didn't think of anyone else other than Farmer man."

Slowly Kiba began to feel normal once more. And soon he cracked a small smile, "Well, your dad _has_ been known to overreact sometimes."

She let out a small giggle at this, "Yeah... He's kind of insane..." She muttered, then looked back at Kiba, "Seriously, Kiba, thank you... Back at the store-"

He raised his hand at this, stopping her. "I'm not really good at understanding girls. You're weird to me. But my mom and sister hate having to buy their things so I'm left having to do it... Guess it's just a girl thing."

Once he finished, her mouth hung open. But before he could ask her what was wrong, she chuckled softly and shook her head, "That's actually really intelligent of you to say... I never would have thought you'd ever understand _a single thing_ about girls... Although... How did you know what was wrong with me?"

"That hurts." He feigned hurt, then shrugged, "Forget I'm an Inuzuka?" He questioned, which made her shake her head, "Above average sense of smell. I know when just about all the chicks around me are... You know."

Feeling just a tiny bit awkward once more. And Ino seemed just as embarrassed as before.

"Wait! You know about _all of us_?"

He could not understand why she was so shocked. "Well... Yeah... If I knew about you, I would know about the rest. Like how Hinata and Sakura have yet to go through this."

Ino paused for a moment, then quirked an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Duh doy." Kiba resisted the urge to roll his eyes, then nodded, "Sometimes having such an awesome sense of smell isn't all that awesome."

They both shared a small chuckle at this. It wasn't all that funny. But Kiba saw the tension ease out of Ino as she chuckled. And that made him feel like he had done something right. Which was a new feeling when it came to his female friends; he only seemed able to piss them off whenever around them.

"Alright... I'll leave you to it. If you need any help, though, Hana won't mind giving you a few tricks and pointers. Being a chick, she knows a lot more about this than I do."

Ino nodded and shooed him off. But just as he was about to close the door behind him, Ino called out to him. So he turned once more, only to find her blushing softly once more.

"Seriously, though... Thank you, Kiba. This... uh... It means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it." He smiled, then closed the door and walked to the main area of the apartment.

Once there, Inoichi jumped out of his chair and ran to him, asking if everything was alright. And Kiba merely glared at him and flicked him on the nose.

"You're an idiot." He chided, then grunted, "Don't run to Genma about this kind of shit. He'd be just as confused as you. My sister works at the Inuzuka veterinarian clinic most days. You can find her there. Go ask her about this kind of stuff."

"Kiba! You can't-" Genma was about to scold him, but Kiba shrugged and walked over to the table to find Akamaru playing his game for him... And winning.

"I won't do it again, Genma. Promise. But he needed something to knock him back to reality." He murmured as he looked over Akamaru's cards, then smiled, "Steak for you tonight, boy."

* * *

Kotetsu enjoyed spending time with the kids. Even though they would undoubtedly be going on missions as fully fledged ninja in no time, they were still the same little kids he had helped raise (in his own way) through the years.

Although, sometimes, he knew that they needed to leave them alone, no matter how much he wanted to help.

Like when Naruto and Sasuke hid away together to discuss whatever it was they whispered about, far away from any prying eyes. He'd stumbled upon them in various different places, arguing with harsh whispers about things he could not hear. And he'd always felt the same compulsion to go them and force them to smile, hating how serious they looked. But he'd heard small snippets of their conversations at different times and always decided to leave them alone, no matter how much he wanted to get them to smile.

"I think I should do it. He says it'll help me, Sasuke!"

"No, Naruto. Ignore Mizuki Sensei. He may be a good teacher, but what he's proposing will get you in a lot of trouble!"

Every time he'd encountered them like this, the conversation seemed to be about the same thing. Something to do with Mizuki, another Academy teacher. He never thought much about it for it always sounded like a prank of some kind. And Naruto was always getting himself in trouble, so Kotetsu just left it alone. Instead he left as quietly as he could to not alert the kids as to his presence and went off to find any of the other kids to try and have some fun before Izumo found him and dragged him back to the village gates.

~/~

Hinata and Neji were the duo he encountered as frequently as Naruto and Sasuke. But this was simply because of his ties to the Hyuga clan. Ties he was still dumbfounded as to having somehow managed to make while under their care.

Whenever there was a mission Hiashi believed he and Izumo were good for, he would call him to the compound to discuss the plans. And it seemed that a few of the Hyuga enjoyed just being around him, for sometimes he was called up on a purely social call to interact with some of them. And, even if these were the fewer amount of times, he sometimes was just called to speak and catch up with the always busy head of the clan.

(He would never admit it, but he enjoyed those times the most. Hiashi was a really interesting individual beneath the calm and collected persona. And he told _the best_ stories.)

Normally when he came across the cousins, they were outside in Hinata's personal garden after a round of rigorous training. They sat shoulder to shoulder as they calmed their breathing.

"I am glad you, Kiba-kun, and Tenten-chan were able to pick that lock when you were younger, Neji-nii-san."

"... I am as well... I do not want to know what would have become of me if I had not done so..."

When he'd first heard this, Kotetsu had been left confused. He hadn't really understood what they had been speaking about. But he had known that he should not interrupt the adorable family moment. So he'd walked away and decided to leave them alone until they sought him out.

By the fifth time he heard this snippet repeated (for it always happened, like clockwork, after they finished their training sessions), Kotetsu's curiosity had been too much for him to handle. So he'd asked Hiashi if he knew what they were talking about.

What he learned, he felt was much too intimate for him to know about. Much too intimate and personal for him to be a part of.

He took to seeking Hanabi out on the days he visited. That way he would not come across the scene anymore, accidentally ruin it by just seeing it.

~/~

Shino's moments were the only ones he wasn't afraid of being a part of. But this was because, even though he'd never truly said it, Shino was his little brother. They shared so many experiences... Many that were kept only to themselves. Moments that no one would ever know about; should never know about.

When he visited the Aburame compound, he was treated like a member. He was seen as a part of the family by many of them and respected. Even with how young he was and how immature he tended to be, he was treated like a deserving warrior when he was around them. The usually aloof Aburame acted around him like they did with each other, for they no longer felt he was a stranger. Instead, he was part of the hive.

Whenever he found Shino alone and pensive, he did not slink away like he did with Naruto and Saskue. Nor did he feel guilty for seeing him in those moments, like with Hinata and Neji. Instead, he felt peaceful and a tug of _family_ that told him to go to Shino.

So he'd walk up to the Aburame and sit beside him, smiling softly at him before he folded his arms over his chest and waited. He sat upright, close but not shoulder to shoulder with the pensive Aburame. And after a few minutes, he would feel the boy move closer to him until they were pressed together and heard a soft breath escape him.

"Ko..." Shino would begin in a whisper.

"Shi..." Kotetsu would smile softly, keeping his voice down.

"Te..." The Aburame's voice would strengthen, and he would let his head fall onto the elder's shoulder.

"No..." He would glance down at the boy, who kept breathed in deeply before finishing.

"Tsu..." With this, Shino would look down at his lap and Kotetsu would bring his arm up behind Shino to give him a one armed hug.

"My favorite Aburame."

And he'd then be treated to one of the unbelievably bright smiles Shino only allowed him to see. Which would leave him feeling calm and at complete ease, even as Shino asked him about all the things that ate away at him. Things that, sometimes he was able to answer, but would leave him answerless most of the times.

He enjoyed spending time with all of the kids. Although he knew that, sometimes, they just needed space and time to themselves.

Much like, sometimes, Shino needed his non-Aburame big brother to just be there.

* * *

She may have been young, but she was not stupid. If anything, Hanabi Hyuga was extremely smart. Even her non-official guardian, Iwashi Tatami, had been surprised by how truly smart she was. Although she had never understood why people were so shocked. Her father was extremely smart and she had been just about raised surrounded by insane yet smart children.

(Although she would never admit to thinking this about many of Hinata's friends, the fact was that they were smart. They had to be to be able to get out of the messes they created.)

One time, when she was younger, she had heard the clan elders whispering words she did not understand about her father. She had known what they meant, really. But she had not been able to understand why they had been used to speak about her father. And when she'd asked Iwashi about them, he'd merely explained that the elders were old people that believed some of her father's decisions were odd for their clan.

 _Disgraceful_ , _weak_ , _humiliating_ _._

She knew what they meant. But her father was none of them.

 _Outrageous actions, would destroy the clan, just asking to be attacked._

Their clan was strong. And Konoha was peaceful. They should not be getting attacked at any point.

 _Dishonorable_.

Never. Her father was anything _but that_.

But out of respect to her father and his love for rules, she had not called the elders out on their shameless hate. She had merely remained quiet and asked Iwashi to explain to her why they were being so rude.

The elders enjoyed putting her father down. They liked to insult him for his supposed 'wrong choices'. They believed that by allowing so many outsiders to influence his children, he was raising them to be weak and to disgrace the clan.

Hanabi loved her clan. She loved her family. Her cousin and sister were her greatest friends. And she was more than eager to join the ranks of her clan in the shinobi life as soon as she could.

But she held no love for those that insulted her father.

She knew that he knew the elders spoke ill of him. She knew that her father did not like it. But he remained quiet and seemed to turn a blind eye on them.

Although, much like many did not expect of someone her age, Hanabi knew of the toll it took on Hiashi Hyuga to have to deal with so many negative thoughts when they were directed at him, his decisions, and his children. He never allowed himself to show his true pain around many. But Hanabi could see in his eyes. She could see the subtle wince of his eyes whenever the most vocal of the elders, an old, prudish woman with more wrinkles than skin, let her distaste made clear.

She kept quiet about this, though. Her father wanted her to think of him as a strong, immoveable force that could not be hurt. So she played along and acted as if everything was normal when around her father.

Although she did ask Genma-san and Iwashi just why he allowed so much disrespect to fly.

The non-clan members never seemed to know what to answer. Instead, they would just ask of her, "Don't let those whispers get to you. They're old and senile. Your father knows what he's doing. Listen to him, make him proud, keep training, and become the greatest ninja you can."

She loved Iwashi like a brother and Genma-san like a second father. She had been raised with them taking care of her whenever her father couldn't. So she listened to them. And she hoped that, as she made her father proud by being a good student, she made Iwashi and Genma-san proud by having her father so pleased.

* * *

Genma could not understand why it was that the people he had come to meet over his life seemed to like him so much. The kids stuck around him like glue. Just like the teenagers, even though they were now adults with their own homes and lives. And the parents were more than glad to have him around to dump all of their responsibilities on him whenever they wished to.

He had understood why they stuck around when they were younger. But they were genin now. They had no reason to stick around like they did.

Still, they asked for sleepovers and awesome trips as often as they had when they were kids. And the not-teenagers wished to hang around as much as they could as well, apparently not content with having to grow up and become their own person.

"You have a talent, Genma."

Genma turned to look at Kakashi with a questioning eyebrow raised. But then he turned to look back at the scene before him, a soft smile crawling onto his lips without his permission.

A joint training trip to their favorite park had left the genin completely wiped out. And the not-teenagers had jumped at the chance to finally have a day together and begged the Hokage to leave them to go with the kids, promising to help with their training so that their free day could be categorized as work rather than vacation. Although they had played a lot more than some of the kids.

"Don't know what you're talking about, Kakashi..." Genma murmured softly, then shook his head, "One would think they were still eighteen and nineteen rather twenty three and up."

Iwashi shifted slightly to get more comfortable before he tightened his grip on a comfortably sleeping Hanabi. The young Hyuga, in turn, tightened her own grip on his hand, which rested on her waist.

Genma knew that, to many, it would seem odd to have Iwashi hugging Hanabi so tightly. Some may even take it the wrong way. But there was a connection between those two that reminded Genma a lot of Shino and Kotetsu's own.

These kids were the living proof that blood did not necessarily dictate family.

Speaking about Kotetsu and Shino... The older male was splayed out on the floor of his living room, Shino's head resting on his left shoulder while Kiba was curled up on his right side. Akamaru slept on top of the elder's chest.

"They're all kids at heart." Kakashi shrugged softly, then motioned to the last of the not-teenagers. "I still can't believe Sakura's little crush has not worn off."

Hayate was still awkward around the girls, even after years of knowing them. But he seemed to have at least warmed up to them, for he was snoring softly with Sakura's head on his shoulder, both having fallen asleep on his couch. Izumo was sleeping on the other side of the couch, Chouji splayed out on top of him. And, finally, Hana was curled up between both Naruto and Sasuke, her arms wrapped protectively around them.

"It'll leave her eventually." Genma shrugged, then he looked over the rest of the kids.

Hinata was curled up beneath a blanket on the floor, all the while Neji slept seated up beside her. Shikamaru was splayed out on top of his kitchen counter- which made Genma think back on old times when that had been any of the other kids. Ino and Tenten were hugging each other near Hinata and Neji. And Lee was snoring loudly on top of his bookshelf, which Genma still couldn't believe he'd managed to climb.

"They have their own homes... Own lives..." Genma sighed, only to find a hand fall on top of his shoulder.

"Yeah, they do. And you're an important part of it."

This was all much too sappy for Genma. Too adorable. And he wasn't sure if he should have felt happy he was allowed to be a part of these experiences, or somewhat bitter about the future.

If he grew any more attached to them, he wasn't sure how well he'd fare once they finally decided to leave them.

But... He could enjoy this for now. He could enjoy being part of a family for now. Especially now that they had finally decided to calm down and not be such huge pains in his ass.

* * *

Sometimes, Genma forgot how truly evil his kids could be.

Not to him. _Never to him_.

But... He wasn't sure how he should deal with this newest development... He wasn't even sure _if_ he should try and deal with it.

"I believe these are yours."

He had never seen a Hyuga looking so angry before. But the squad that was now at his door was filled with pissed off members of the clan. And none of them seemed even the least bit humored as _all_ of his kids were pushed inside. _Including_ the not-teenagers.

"The Hokage asked us to leave them with you as he thinks of a suitable punishment." The eldest of the Hyuga there, a man he'd worked with a few times, informed him as he pushed Kotetsu- whom had his tongue sticking out in a sign of childish petulance- inside. "Do _not_ let any of them leave."

After all of the (some, not all) guilty looking culprits had been left inside his apartment, the Hyuga squad left.

For a moment, Genma just took in the sight of them. Some had their clothes burnt up. Others had scratches on their body. Kotetsu, Naruto, and Kiba had bruises forming on their body. And he did _not_ miss the worrying pouches that hung from the waists of Team 7.

Before he asked what had happened, the senbon enthusiast breathed in.

"The elders deserved it! They kept insulting me, father, and Hinata and Neji!" Hanabi began to shout before he could even ask, "We just needed them to know that outsiders aren't always as incompetent as they think they are!"

He could point out all the things that would undoubtedly _go wrong_ after what they had done. He didn't know what had happened. He just knew the kids had planned something that had to do with revenge on the elders of the Hyuga clan...

But instead, he breathed in, shook his head, and looked at Izumo and Hana. "Even you?"

They, at least, had the decency to look somewhat ashamed.

"They made some good arguments."

..~..~..

There is a new poll up on my page! I took the results of the past poll into consideration and created it. So, this time the question is if Genma should end up romantically involved in the story. And the answers are 'No' and 'Whatever you think' for that. And if there should be romance, these are the options: Kakashi, Hiashi, Raidou, or Bear/Ibiki. Because I know that not everyone wants to go to a poll, I ask of you that if you don't want to, review your answers. This story is more of a labor of love for the community rather than for myself. So I wish to hear what y'all have to think. Please review!


	15. Chapter 15

_Chapter 15: The Way in Which Genma Found Himself Having to Hold Himself Back From Strangling Them All:_ The kids were insane. Genma was sure of it. Hell, he'd always known it... But he'd just never thought they would go _this far_. First with the elders, now _this_? The only thing that brought him any kind of reassurance was the fact that it hadn't been _all_ of them, just _three_.

..~..~..

Genma did not like dealing with any kind of issues when it came to the clans. He had ties to most of the big clans of Konoha and didn't want to risk getting into any kind of trouble between them. So he usually tried his best to stay away from anything that could be seen as even moderately controversial and steered the kids away from said things as best he could.

Although, right now, there wasn't much he could do to avoid the issue.

All of the kids he took care of had been part of this mass attack on the council of elders of the Hyuga Clan. Not only them, but also their older friends. Even the most level headed of the group, Hayate, Izumo, and Hana, had been part of the whole thing.

He didn't know what it was that they had done. Nor did he want to know.

Luckily for him, the Hokage understood this. For he did not even try to tell him what had happened. He merely asked Genma what he should do with all of them, for he was at a loss.

At the moment, the guilty party was sitting outside of the Hokage's office. They took up just about the whole space outside along with all of the chairs, which would have brought a smile to Genma's face on any other day. But seeing how they had just committed a _felony_ , he couldn't be bothered to even think about the pure hilarity of the situation outside the Hokage's office.

"If it had been just one or two of the children," The wise man sighed heavily with a regretful shake of his head, "But they were _so many_. Even the chunin... I am not surprised to learn about Kotetsu and Iwashi, they are wild... But how did they convince the rest to go along with them?"

Quite frankly, Genma was still trying to figure this out himself. Hana, Hayate, and Izumo were sticklers for the rules. They loved order and barely ever went against the shinobi chain of command. But they had joined in on the attack...

Breathing out softly, Genma smiled sadly, "The kids made a good argument?"

The Hokage was not amused with his answer. But it was at this moment that Hiashi Hyuga entered through the window of his office. Which, considering this was Hiashi and _not_ Kakashi, was quite the sight.

The Hyuga's face was tense with restrained anger. And his whole body was coiled tightly, clearly irritated with what his children had done to the members of their own clan.

Upon noticing the curiosity both the Hokage and Genma didn't even try to hide, Hiashi sighed, "There were too many people to go through to make an acceptable entrance. I decided to not even risk having to go through there and entered through the window instead."

It made sense, Genma conceded in his mind. And after a moment of silence between them, he dared ask, "How're the elders?"

Hiashi's eyes burned with controlled anger. It looked so out of place in his usually gentle face that Genma truly was taken aback by it.

"They are alive and well. But they are just about asking for blood." Hiashi answered levelly, although there was clear annoyance dusting his words, "If not the childrens', then my own."

"Yours?" The Hokage questioned, which got a nod from the other male.

"I have told them that the punishment they wish to give is cruel and outrageous. I would much rather try and assuage their anger than have them on a war path against mere _genin_." At this, Hiashi sighed heavily, closing his eyes to compose himself before he continued, "If I am to accept their deal, no punishment will be asked to be delivered. If you wish to still punish them in some manner, Lord Hokage, you will be able to. But the Hyuga will not clamor to see them brought to justice."

If there was one thing Genma had learned after years of interacting with Hiashi, it was that the man was extremely skilled in keeping check of his emotions. But even he had his limits. The anger and regret that underlined his voice were emotions he undoubtedly wanted to hide. But it seemed that he could not. Which meant that the situation truly was grim.

"Lord Hiashi, what has the council asked of you?"

The Hokage's own voice was deep and worried. And Genma immediately knew that he was going to get caught in the middle of great tension among the Hyuga Clan. All because of the kids.

Hiashi looked them both over with distrust for a second before it vanished. Then he raised his head higher, squared his shoulders, and answered, "To be able to name my successor as Hyuga Clan Head. A member of the main family, of course. But neither Hanabi nor Hinata."

Genma was not able to process the words at first. He heard them. He could understand the meaning. But he could not connect the severity of them with the reality the Hyuga clan lived in.

From what he knew, this had never happened before. Hiashi came from the _only_ line of Hyuga Clan Heads. And Hinata, as his eldest, was supposed to be the heir.

"What?"

Hiashi remained stern and serious even with how completely disbelieving the Hokage sounded.

"They believe that it is about time there was a change in the lineage for the leaders of our clan. My branch of the family, they say, is untrustworthy and does not hold the Hyuga as the most important of those we are loyal to." The man's pale eyes never left the Hokage's as he spoke, "They believe it is time they chose some new blood to take control of the clan once I have passed."

All was silent in the room after he explained.

Genma could not believe what he was hearing.

"And... You're going to accept this?" He asked softly, which made Hiashi turn to him and nod stiffly.

"Believe me when I say that what they have planned for the children is much worse than-"

But before he could finish speaking, the door to the Hokage's office was thrown open. All three men turned to it in surprise, only to find Hinata standing with her eyes narrowed and her lips pulled into a tight frown.

"Do not accept that deal, father!"

She did not stutter. She did not waver. Her face did not heat up in sudden embarrassment at having pulled such a stunt. Instead Hinata's whole body read of determination, her eyes of anger.

"I have worked too much to become a worthy heir just to have that council of ass kissers to take it away!"

"Hinata!" Genma made to scold, only for Neji to walk up and stand behind his cousin.

" _We_ have worked too much to see Lady Hinata's future taken away." The boy glared coolly into the room, crossing his arms over his chest. And finally Hanabi moved to stand to her sister's side, "We will take the punishment."

Hiashi glared at his children. He took a step forward towards them, "What they ask for me to do is cruel. _I_ refuse to do it to _children_."

And this was when Iwashi walked up and around the Hyuga kids, face set and voice steady, "Alright. Then I'll take the punishment for them."

"Iwashi-" Genma again wanted to intervene. But, once more, he was stopped.

"As Hanabi's unofficial guardian, I am supposed to keep her from getting in trouble. And as an adult, I should not have allowed the kids to go through with such a plan of revenge. I allowed my emotions to cloud me and allowed them to get into a predicament they never should have gotten into." He then turned to look at Hiashi and bowed deeply, "I will take the punishment on behalf of all the kids."

The young man was determined to be the only one to be punished because of a whole group's actions. But in ran Kotetsu, quickly dashing away the wishes the man had.

"I helped them plan everything." He looked Genma directly in the eyes before turning to Hiashi, all the while he moved to stand beside Iwashi, in front of the Hyuga kids. "I'll take some of the burden off of Iwashi."

When Genma turned to look at Hiashi, he found that the Hyuga was frowning sternly. But the anger in his eyes had subsided into what reminded him of the lazy flames of a dying bonfire.

"You-"

He wasn't allowed to say anything else before Hayate, Hana, and Izumo all burst into the room, quickly moving to stand beside Kotetsu and Iwashi. "We'll _all_ take the punishment. But just us. As chunin, we should have known better." Izumo spoke up in a hurried voice, eyes wide even as a small blush began to spread on his cheeks.

He'd never been one for speaking out in front of his elders. And now he was doing it in front of two of the most serious shinobi he'd, undoubtedly, met in his life.

"There is no need for you to give in to those prudes' demands, Lord Hiashi." Hayate spoke firmly, even though he then went into a round of coughing after he'd said this. "We won't let our lack of judgement jeopardize your clan's whole future."

And finally, Hana crossed her arms over her chest, eyes closed as she nodded to herself, "It's only right we make up for our mistakes."

Genma stared at the not-teenagers with confusion pulling at his thoughts. He could understand, in a way, why they were doing this. But it made no sense. Hiashi had offered to keep them all safe. In a way that would change the Hyuga clan's whole future (and there was a high probability that this would be for the worse) and would leave the family reeling to fix everything, but it was still a solution that spared them from whatever evil plans the elders concocted.

Hiashi breathed in before he responded.

He shouldn't have. The man should have spoken up as quickly as possible.

"Never!" Suddenly the rest of the children came barreling into the room, forcing their way in front of the chunin to glare defiantly at the Hokage, Hiashi, and Genma. "If they're going down, we're going down with them!"

Ino was the mains spokesperson. But Kiba quickly followed, "You're all being stupid. We did this together; we'll fix it together. We ain't about to let you guys throw all of Hinata's hard work away just because a bunch of raisins needed a wake up call."

And then Naruto moved forward, raising a fist over at the three oldest people in the room, "And if you think we'd ever let those five take the punishment for us without us fighting about it, you don't know us at all!"

Genma could see a united front when he saw one. And it warmed his heart to know that, even though these kids were dangerous and always got themselves into problems they could easily avoid, they would at least always have _someone_ around to watch their backs.

After the heated declarations, the room fell into a heavy silence. But then Hiashi broke it with a sarcastic statement Genma was _still_ not accustomed to hearing from him. A Hyuga with a sense of humor wasn't all that common.

"Is that all? Or is there another outburst I should wait for before I speak up?"

Upon hearing the rather uncharacteristic sarcastic comment, all of the participants of the attack on the council of elders faltered. Just like Genma, they didn't really expect for Hiashi to have a bone of humor in his body. Even though, much like Genma once more, they'd seen it in action many times before.

"Uh... No... I don't think so." Naruto responded lamely before he took a step back to stand in between Sasuke and Sakura.

"Good." Hiashi nodded, then turned to look at the Hokage, "I believe this settles the matter. There is no need for me to step back and allow a new clan head to be chosen when the children are eager to right their wrongs."

"I agree." The older male nodded pensively, then quirked an eyebrow over at the crowd of kids, "Just how did you know exactly what we were talking about? If I remember correctly, my door was _closed_."

At this Kiba smiled broadly, Akamaru barked triumphantly from his spot on the Inuzuka's head, and Hana blushed minutely.

"We aren't just good for sniffing out bad guys. We also have pretty good hearing, Lord Hokage."

(After this, the Hokage began to employ sound barriers whenever Inuzuka were around his office and he wanted to speak of something that only a few ears should be privy to.)

* * *

"You two ever feel like you've been pushed to the sidelines?"

Chouji and Shino were both surprised to hear Shikamaru actually begin a conversation. And just a tiny bit confused by what he had said.

"What do you mean, Shikamaru?" Shino questioned softly, turning his head just slightly to look at him through the corner of his eyes.

Chouji looked at his best friend with wide, inquisitive eyes, even though he didn't voice out his concern. Instead he just continued to look at him, all the while he ignored the shouting and screaming that was coming from the training ground before them.

A join training competition once more. This time, Genma wasn't around to supervise the proceedings. Instead he had left Izumo and Hayate to take care of making sure everyone played it nice and clean while the rest of the teachers looked on as second pairs of eyes.

"These guys are insane." The Nara murmured as he crossed his arms over his chest, all the while leaning back against a tree. "We're always getting in trouble because of them; back when we were kids and even now. My body still hurts from what the Hyuga jerks did to us..." He sighed heavily, then opened one eye to look directly at Shino, "We go along with their insane plans, yet we get nothing in return."

This was nothing new for Chouji to hear. Seeing how he and Shikamaru had always been the most quiet of the group of kids- aside from Hinata and Shino, of course-, they had always been left behind. He had felt alone on more than one occasion. But then Izumo had come around and he hadn't felt so alone anymore. Just like he knew Shino didn't feel alone because he had Kotetsu.

But Shikamaru just had him. He had no 'big brother' to look up to. No 'big sister' either. And if he was anything like the Akimichi, then having his parents around wouldn't be enough.

"Shika... These are our friends you're talking about." The plump boy spoke softly, which made his best friend sigh heavily.

"Some friends. Chouji, how many times have we gotten the short end of the stick because of some plan they thought up of?" The Nara questioned, but he did not wait for an answer. "And we're always forgotten. Unless they want your baking skills, Shino's insects, or my strategy, we are _forgotten_."

His harsh words were followed by Naruto's boisterous and hearty laughter. Both things contrasted harshly.

"We are not forgotten."

Chouji turned to look at Shino, hoping that he would say that which he couldn't. He had never been good with trying to argue with others. Which was one reason why he went along with a lot of his friends plans without thinking twice about it.

"Farmer man has been looking after all of us for years now. He has never forgotten one of our birthdays and has always been there if we ever needed to talk with him. He has never forgotten us. Neither have our friends." Shino looked directly at Shikamaru, keeping him pinned even though his eyes were obscured by his thick glasses. "They are loud, they are forgetful, and they are impulsive. But they are great friends." Then he raised his arm and placed his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, "Do not forget who was there with you to help heal your broken arm when you did not want any of our parents to find out."

Chouji remembered that very well. He, Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru had been climbing trees when they had been eight years old. Shikamaru's parents had been the only ones to say that their kid couldn't do it. But he had followed his friends up the trees to not be left behind.

Kiba and Naruto were really good at it because they had been climbing any and everything since they had been young. Chouji had gone along carefully, paying close attention to the things Kiba had been saying. But Shikamaru had dozed off and grabbed onto an unstable tree branch. If he had been paying attention, he would have easily been able to right himself. But he hadn't. So he'd tumbled onto the ground before and landed on his right arm.

The Akimichi could still hear the way the boy's arm snapped beneath him when he'd reached the floor.

They had all panicked. They had been told to not let Shikamaru climb. And while the Nara's were kind, they were pretty tough. All four of them would have gotten into a lot of trouble if they heard what had happened. And they had all wanted to keep quiet about what had happened. But seeing how Shikamaru had broken his arm, they would not be able to lie their way out of trouble.

They'd gone straight to Genma. Even if the man had been busy at his job, he'd come out of his office to see them. And when he'd seen Shikamaru's broken arm, he'd immediately gone to a med nin and had her help him out. Then, while Shikamaru had been healed, he'd asked for them to tell him what happened.

None of them had lied to Genma. With tears streaming down their faces, the three boys had blubbered about how they'd been breaking Yoshino's rules. And once they'd finished, they'd expected him to rat them out.

But Genma hadn't. Instead, he'd hugged them all, made them promise to not try to climb any more trees unless there was an adult with them, and then ruffled their hair.

"I won't tell this time because you did the right thing in bringing him to me and telling me the truth. But this is the _only_ time I will do this."

"He kept his promise, Shikamaru. Not only because Naruto or Kiba would get in trouble, but also because _you_ would." Shino squeezed the Nara's shoulder for a moment, then let his hand drop. "He loves us all. Some of us... Well, they just demand more attention. Imagine if _we_ were the ones always tended to."

At this, the corner of Shikamaru's lips curled up, "The others would be dead at this point."

"Exactly."

Chouji smiled when he saw his friend smile, then he hugged him and told him, "You don't have to feel like this. You could always come and hang out with me and Izumo. You know how much he loves it when you join us."

The Nara pulled a face in good humor, "He's always calling me a cat."

"Because you _are_ one." Chouji smiled broadly, happy that Shino was around to say the words he had not been able to think of, "But I love you, even though you act as if you hate all of us."

* * *

"So Sasuke is a no-go. He's not going to help us out."

"I told you he wouldn't, Naruto. But we can't let that hold us back, now can we? Mizuki Sensei told you that this would help make you stronger."

"And if you're going to be the next Hokage, you're going to need to get as strong as possible. Especially if you want to deal with jerks like the elders in the Hyuga clan."

"I know, Tenten. Now, what we have to do is make sure that we've got the plan set and are ready to go. So... Lock picks?"

There was the jingling of metal, then a haughty laugh, "Akamaru and I've got that down."

"Good. I know the Hokage's place like the back of my hand. So all that's missing is accessibility. Tenten?"

"We are all in the village without any training in a day. So if we're going to strike, it has to be tomorrow."

"Understood. Guys, remember, the plan is to get in, take the scroll, and get out. Then we can look the scroll over-"

"Didn't Mizuki Sensei tell you to _not_ peek?"

"Yeah... But since when have I listened to stuff like that, dog breath?"

"True. You three ready for this?"

A nod paired by a broad smile.

Then another nod, but this time followed by the pumping of a fist while bright blue eyes looked back at the Inuzuka with pure energy.

And, finally, an excited bark.

They were ready.

* * *

Sakura enjoyed spending time along with Sasuke. Not because she liked him or anything, her heart was still captivated with the incredibly hunky Hayate, but because he was nice to be around. The last of the Uchiha was quiet, yet understanding and nice. He never insulted her for being so weak and instead tried to help her get better even when she felt like giving up.

And Ebisu was a great teacher to have around. He wasn't sarcastic and rude like Kakashi. Instead, he was kind and encouraging. He used soft words and eager challenges to get her going rather than harsh threats of punishment if she didn't.

Even though she'd known Scarecrow for years and had been happy to have him as a teacher, Sakura had come to figure out that just because she liked the guy, it didn't mean he was a good teacher. But Naruto and Sasuke learned pretty well from him. But she didn't respond well to insults and threats. Instead, she reacted to encouraging goading and promises of rewards.

"Good job, Sakura! Done like a true Uchiha!"

Like right now. If it had been Kakashi teaching her this fire style jutsu, he would have given up on her after her first two attempts, which had ended in failure.

For all the stories there were about him being a great ninja, he was one of the least encouraging shinobi she'd ever come across. Which, really, didn't bother her. Maybe if she hadn't known so many other great teachers because of Farmer man, she would hate her teacher. But because she could ask so many different people for help, all she felt towards Kakashi's teaching methods was slight annoyance.

At least the man was knowledgeable when it came to poisons. And that was something that he couldn't yell at her about, for she understood that extremely well. She was the star pupil when it came to poisons and quiet types of attacks. Even though Naruto and Sasuke had her beat by miles when it came to raw power.

"Think you can do it again, Sakura? Maybe we can try to join the fireball attacks so we can make a giant one without wasting too much chakra."

Sasuke was smiling at her. He didn't smile much, not like this. He gave soft smiles to all of their friends. But this one had _teeth_. Sasuke _almost never_ smiled like this unless Naruto was around.

Taking in a giant gulp of air to try and regain her breath, the panting girl took a moment to compose herself. Her lungs were burning, her body was sore beyond belief, and there were burn marks on her arms. Maybe, if she continued with trying to master fire style attacks, she would need to invest in arm guards like Sasuke's.

But, even with how tired she felt, Ebisu was looking at her from behind his sunglasses with a smile to just about screamed 'Do it!'. And Sasuke was right beside her, offering to try and create a tag team attack, much like he had with Naruto.

She had never felt so eager to lose so much chakra before.

"Let's do this thing!"

~/~

Ebisu ended up carrying her back home after the training session. Naruto ran to them from wherever it was that he had been just in time to see a humongous fireball soaring through the air and devastating a sizeable amount of trees. And when he'd noticed that Sakura had done half of the work to ensure the success of the jutsu, he'd hugged her tightly and congratulated her on finally being able to reach her dreams.

It had taken her years, but she'd done it. She'd finally mastered the fireball jutsu the Uchiha were so renown for.

Now all she had to do was weasel a few more fire release attacks from Ebisu... That fire bullet attack sure looked pretty cool when the man had shown them how it went... And the fire wall had been pretty interesting too and had great defensive capabilities, aside from offensive ones.

Sasuke and Naruto accompanied them half of the way back to Sakura's home. As Team 7, they stuck together and looked after each other. But Naruto was kind of annoying with his constant questioning of Sakura being okay. Luckily, though, Sasuke seemed to have understood Naruto being annoying and had distracted him with ramen.

Her eyes were closed as Ebisu walked her back to her home. And she dozed comfortably, already used to this sort of ritual after having gone through it many times before.

She was close to being completely asleep when they reached her home. Faintly she heard Ebisu greet her parents and explain what had happened. Her heart swelled with pride when she heard her parents gush about her strength when the spectacled man told them she had finally mastered the jutsu.

But that had nothing on how she felt after Ebisu lay her down on her bed.

The man tucked her in, just like he had done since this odd sort of friendship had first started. After he'd pulled off her shoes, he'd brought the covers over her and made sure they weren't going to fall when she began to move around. Then he patted her softly on the head, which was usually the signal to him leaving.

But tonight was different. Instead of leaving after this, the man stayed.

Sakura faintly wondered what happened. But she was much too tired to open her eyes, much less ask what was going on.

Then she felt his large hand on her head once more and heard him whisper, "I have not felt like I was truly a part of something for a long time... When my sister died, I was left all alone. My brother had not survived childhood and my parents were both gone... I was alone... But then you appeared, an eager child with a thirst for knowledge... And suddenly, I did not feel so alone anymore."

The silence that came after this pierced Sakura's heart.

All tiredness was gone at this point. What she heard, she knew she was not meant to hear. But still, she hoped for more, to understand why Ebisu was telling her all of this.

"You are so much like Enenra..." Ebisu's hand patted her hair two times before he pulled back, clothes rustling softly, "I was not able to teach her correctly... But you... Sakura, you are _such_ a good student... And you are helping me atone for not having done all I could to keep my sister safe... Sakura Haruno, _thank you for being my student_."

After this, Ebisu vanished through her window.

And all Sakura could do was stare at the window he had gone through before she vowed to become better. To make Ebisu proud.

* * *

Lee enjoyed training with his team. They were great teammates to have and eve better friends. Always alert and ready to fight if needed.

Even though Tenten seemed somewhat distracted today.

"Tenten, are you alright?" The boy questioned after completing his final repetition of one hundred push ups, then looked up to find that only ten of the twelve kunai Tebten had thrown had hit the center of the dummy. "This is not like you."

Usually, she would hit the twelve perfectly. But two had strayed off. And that _never_ happened.

"Huh?" The girl blinked for a moment, then turned to her friend, "Am I alright? Yeah. Mind's just drifting a bit. I've got to deal with Naruto and Kiba tonight."

The dark haired male looked at her through narrowed eyes.

"You've never been too bothered with spending time with your friends."

The girl now smiled, "You're right, Lee, I'm just overreacting." Then she ran over to the practice dummy grab the kunai before returning. "How about this: If I don't hit my marks perfectly, I'll run two laps around Konoha?"

"That is a most excellent challenge, Tenten! It is inflamed with the fire of y-OUCH!"

Guy Sensei appeared out of nowhere. And for his troubles of trying to encourage his students, all he received was a sudden Leaf Hurricane attack, followed by those twelve kunai all hitting their marks on his body.

* * *

"Huh... This one seems promising... Summoning: Blood Oath, it's called."

"That sounds dangerous, Kiba. Maybe you shouldn't try to learn it... Actually, looking them over, all of these sounds dangerous... Naruto, are you sure Mizuki Sensei told you that this scroll would help you get one step closer to becoming Hokage?"

"His exact words!" A broad beam, then the rustle of paper, "Don't worry, Tenten, we'll be fine! You see, this one's harmless: a clone made out of shadows!"

"You suck at making clones, dumbass."

"I'll show you by learning this!"

"Whatever... The rest are too complicated to learn right now before we give this to Mizuki Sensei... Besides, it says I've got to at least have a 'semblance of mastery of Earth Release'... Im'ma take a picture of all the cool ones. Want me to get some for you, Tenten?"

"Hmm... These two seem promising... Although I guess I'd need someone with medical expertise to help me out... But they look like they'd be cool paired together."

"Yeah. Just like this death trap thing along with the fire vortex."

"The clone one is easy! I'll show you, Kiba!"

"Whatever you say, fox breath."

Then the only sounds among the thieves was the shutter of a camera taking pictures.

* * *

When Genma opened his door late one Wednesday night after hearing knocks coming from outside, he expected to find any one of the kids or not-teenagers. And he was prepared to allow them to stay the night as long as they allowed him a few minutes of silence during the morning before they forced him to wake up.

He did not find them. Instead, it was his best friend, Raidou, along with Ibiki Morino.

"Ibiki? Rai?" He questioned as he looked them both over, then cocked an eyebrow in question, "What's going on?"

Both men were frowning sternly back at him. Which meant that they had come for a serious matter. So Genma sobered up and forgot all about how tired he was, instead looking back at them with a frown of his own.

"Three of your brats have just stolen the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage's office. Search parties have been sent out to find them." Ibiki all but barked out, eyes hard and frown stern. "Kiba, Naruto, and Tenten. We need your help to find them."

"The places I thought they might go to were unsuccessful. We couldn't find them there. Are there any other places they would hide?" Raidou quickly spoke up, which made Genma's mood darken.

If they weren't in a place they usually hid in, it meant they did not want to be found.

"They are _not_ running away. They wouldn't become missing nin." He immediately told the stern Head of T &I, more than aware of what assumptions their actions could be drawing. "There's more to this story than what you may think."

"I am aware, Shiranui." The tall man told him gruffly, "That is why we are here asking for your help rather than the Search and Pursuit Squad that would ask questions _after_ they had captured the children. Now, why don't you lead us so we can make sure those idiots don't get themselves _too_ hurt?"

There was no further need for any more words between the three men. They took off immediately, Genma leading them towards the one place he knew Naruto and Kiba both enjoyed going when they didn't want to get caught in the middle of their mischief making.

* * *

When they heard from Hana that shinobi from all around Konoha were looking for Kiba, Naruto, and Tenten, Team 10 wasted no time in rounding up the rest of their friends. The three split up to find the rest of the group of friends they had, along with Hanabi and the chunin, then brought them all together to be able to discuss what should be their next move.

"We have to find them before the rest do!" Ino, Sakura, and Hinata all agreed on this. "They're going to get into a mess of trouble if someone else finds them before we can help them out!"

"Just what did they take from the Hokage?" Shikamaru and Neji wanted to know, "They're not the kind that would steal something from the old man without having a reason for it."

Kotetsu was just proud that they had actually managed to take something from the Hokage without anybody noticing until a few hours had passed.

The rest of the chunin had smacked him upside the head when he'd said this. Now he was hugging Shino, murmuring about how loyalty meant nothing to this traitorous lot, all he needed was his favorite Aburame.

"It's a very important scroll." Izumo sighed as he ignored his best friend, "One that has information inside of it that could get those three into a lot of trouble."

Hayate then nodded, "If we don't want these guys getting thrown into jail for treason, we've got to find them quick and take them to the Hokage before he can declare them traitors."

"Alright! You guys heard the old men!" Ino suddenly shouted, catching the attention of everyone around her. "Split into groups. Shino and Sakura, you're going with Kotetsu; keep him out of trouble."

The chunin frowned at the blonde, but said nothing about it. The situation was much too serious to start whining about.

"Hana, you're going with Neji and Chouji." Shikamaru continued for his friend, which got nods from the three people he mentioned. "Lee, you'll go with Iwashi, Hanabi, and Hinata. Ino, Sasuke, and Hayate will be going together. And finally, I'll go with Izumo." The Nara finished splitting teams up, then began to assign their search areas.

Once that had been finished, the groups took off without any kind of hesitation. They all needed to find their idiot friends and get them out of trouble before the serious shinobi tried anything.

* * *

"What do you think, Akamaru? Good pictures, right?"

A bark followed by excited panting. "I know! I tell you, boy, nobody'll mess with us once we've got this down!"

"You two really are loud. Aren't you aware we're supposed to be ninja?"

"And aren't you aware that you've got to be somewhat smart to even try and use that death trap thing?"

"Are you insulting my intelligence, dog breath?"

"I sure am, Tenten. What, did my superior knowledge cause you confusion?"

"Why you little-"

"Shut up, guys, look at me being awesome!"

* * *

They didn't find Kiba, Naruto, or Tenten in the Forest of Death. Instead they found Mizuki skulking about, eyes darting around as he looked for something. With a giant shuriken on his back.

Immediately, Genma knew there was something off about Mizuki being out here. No ninja truly thought of finding kids in such a dangerous place. And no one was sent off alone in cases like this to prevent treason. They were always sent out with at least one partner to make sure that no one tried to take advantage of the situation.

Raidou was about to call out for the sensei when Ibiki stopped him.

"What are you doing? We could help us search."

Ibiki glared at Mizuki's feature with a stern frown, "Let's wait and see before we call on him. There's something off about him being the only one out here when even _we_ didn't know where to look."

Raidou looked at him with confusion. But when he looked at Genma, then senbon enthusiast nodded sternly, silently telling him to stay put.

There _was_ something odd about Mizuki being out here alone. And he wanted to know why the man was out here before they tried anything.

* * *

"Are you sure they'll be here, kids?"

"Positive. This is Kiba and Naruto's favorite hiding spot." Sasuke nodded stiffly as he led Hayate and Ino deeper into the Forest of Death, dodging all of the traps and dangers inside with practiced ease. "If they'll be hiding away anywhere, it'll be here."

The chunin followed after the Uchiha without any difficulty. Although Ino did have a bit of trouble trying to avoid the traps, even though she had evaded them a few times before. She had come here before, but she didn't know the place as well as the likes of Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke. But the trouble she experienced wasn't nearly enough to slow her down.

When they reached her favorite hiding spot, they found a rather odd scene.

Naruto was there. Just like Kiba, Akamaru, and Tenten. But they had been expecting this. What they hadn't expected, though, was to see their old teacher, Mizuki Sensei with a broad smile on his face.

"Come on, Naruto, you can hand the scroll over now!"

"You sure, dude?" Kiba was looking over an opened scroll in his hands, moving the long papers around in his hand as he scrutinized what was inside, "These things... It don't seem like it'd be a good thing if these jutsu fell in the wrong hands."

Tenten nodded beside him, "Shouldn't these be with the Hokage? I mean, it's cool that Naruto can get stronger with this and whatever, but... This doesn't seem right..."

The white haired teacher smiled warmly at his old students, "You kids can trust me. Now, if you would just hand the scroll over-"

"Don't!"

Genma was now standing between the kids and the teacher. His back was turned to the group of three that had just arrived, so they couldn't see his face. But from the tension in his body, Hayate knew he was angry.

"I should have known you would want to get your hands on this, Mizuki. You've always been real nice to Naruto... But I thought it was because you truly cared." Genma was growling. They'd never heard him like this before... Not even when they had pissed him off with the whole Hyuga elders situation. "You're sick, you know that, right?"

"Shiranui... I thought you were supposed to be outside of the village on a mission." Mizuki's face changed. He wasn't smiling anymore. Instead, he was frowning heavily. "Don't listen to him, Naruto! He's lying!"

At this, Genma looked back at the three kids behind him. None of them had noticed Ino, Sasuke, and Hayate's appearance.

"Naruto, I love you... You're an idiot, but I really d-"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence.

Genma Shiranui had just committed the one great mistake no ninja should ever make. He had taken his eyes off of the enemy. And now he found a giant shuriken embedded into his back.

"Genma!" All three of the kids screamed as the man's eyes widened horribly, his body freezing up as it began to bleed.

Mizuki took advantage of their surprise. He quickly dispatched of them before he rolled up the scroll that had been his prize, a sick smile on his face as he moved to stand before Genma.

Sasuke and Ino were much too shocked at the scene before them to move. They didn't even notice Hayate moving away from them to get closer to the two men.

"How could you think _anyone_ would ever like a demon brat?" The teacher spit out as he rested his foot over Genma's face, causing him wince and close his eye.

"Wh-what?" Naruto managed to make out as he clunkily sat up on the floor, staring at both men through wide eyes.

"Right..." Mizuki's sneer was what Ino could only call _pure evil_. "The Hokage forbid us from ever talking about this... Well, you see Naruto, you're a monster. You've got a monster living inside of you and that's why nobody-"

He was cut off from saying anything else when Raidou and Ibiki flew out from their hiding places, immediately rushing towards him to stop the man. But Mizuki smirked, apparently prepared for their attacks. Although, when the sharp edge of a sword slid threateningly over his neck, the smirk dropped.

"You've said a bit too much, Mizuki." Hayate growled before he coughed softly, glaring at the other man. "Let go of the scroll."

Mizuki glared back at him, seemingly intent on keeping hold of the scroll. But then two large bear traps clamped over his legs, summoned up by Ibiki. He shouted out and dropped the Scroll of Seals, which Raidou picked up before punching him so harshly that he was knocked unconscious.

There was an amount of skill that the kids could learn from by just watching the men at work. But their attention was taken when they all turned to look at Naruto, only to find that he wasn't there any longer.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, then grabbed Ino. "We have to go after him!"

"But Farmer man-" She gasped, eyes drifting over to the man struggling to get up from the floor.

"Has three capable shinobi helping him! Naruto, though, has no one!" He growled, then ran forward to haul Kiba and Tenten up from the floor, "We have to go after Naruto. Kiba!"

After a few seconds of blinking in awe at the four shinobi before him, Kiba looked at Sasuke, shook off his shock, and nodded. "Got it. Akamaru, we have to hunt down a fox!"

With this all four genin rushed off, not even thinking about the group of men they were leaving behind. Or the trouble they might be getting themselves into.

"Wait-" Raidou shouted out to stop them, but the kids were long gone by the moment he'd even said this. "We should-"

"Get Genma to a hospital." Ibiki cut him off, looking Raidou straight in the eyes. "What Mizuki said has undoubtedly cut Naruto deeply. Right now he does not need old men like us scolding him. Nor to worry about Genma. So you are going to get him to a hospital while Hayate takes the scroll back to the Hokage. I'll deal with the traitor."

..~..~..

I let the first poll stay up and open for a good three weeks, if I'm remembering correctly. So I'll do the same with this one to allow the most amount of people to give their opinions. And, if anyone's wondering, the reason why I put up this second poll is because the first one gave me interesting results. In that one, most people voted against Bear being the love interest. And they gave their opinion as to others, the reason why there are more people to consider in this one.

Please review!


	16. Chapter 16

_Chapter 16: How Genma Found Himself on Probation From All Fronts:_ After his supposed 'self-harming actions', Genma found himself getting scolded like a kid by _everyone_. His friends, the Hokage, even the _kids_ wanted to keep him from going out on missions (They _may_ have tried to force him into a clan.). Aside from that, he found himself seeing quite a few interesting things with his adult friends. Who would have thought Kakashi was capable of asking for help?

..~..~..

He hadn't really been thinking straight when he'd jumped in between Mizuki and the kids. All he had been thinking about was that he needed to get to Naruto before Mizuki tried anything. And that had landed him in the hospital under the threat of possible spine damage.

Apparently, Raidou was _not_ amused with his actions. And he made it extremely clear as soon as Genma was awake and able to pay attention.

"Of all the stupid things you could have done, you had to turn your back on a _traitor._ " His best friend sneered with a heavy frown on his face, pacing from the front of his hospital room all the way to the back.

From what he knew, Raidou had been pacing for a good hour. He'd been brought in about five hours ago and surgery had been performed to make sure that there would be no lasting damage to his nervous system. Now he was healed up, had been asked to not do anything too vigorous for a month and to stay for observation for at least two nights, and to wait for the children to appear rather than worry about them.

Genma looked at Raidou with a thoughtful expression on his face before pursing his lips slightly, "Where are the kids?"

If they had been told he was in the hospital, he was more than sure that at least a few of them would have appeared by now. But it seemed that none had been told.

Raidou glared down at him for a good minute before he sighed softly and sat himself on one of the plastic chairs to the bed's side, "Kiba, Ino, Sasuke, and Tenten took off after Naruto after Mizuki opened his big mouth. Hayate took the scroll back to the Hokage and was supposed to explain the situation. And Ibiki's locking the traitor up real tight."

That didn't answer his question.

Both men shared a moment of silence in which Genma just waited for Raidou to answer what he had asked. And with a heavy sigh, his best friend gave in.

"I don't know where they are, okay? Ibiki and I went to look for your little mongrels as soon as we heard they had stolen the scroll. Kotetsu and Izumo were with us, though, when we heard, so I'm sure the kids knew that those three were in trouble. Undoubtedly they split up into their own search groups, seeing how Hayate was with Ino and Sasuke when shit went down." With this the man looked out the window of the room, taking in the dark night sky. The moon was nowhere in sight. "I don't know where they are."

Genma resisted the urge to screw his face up in annoyance and pain. Even though he was hopped up on some kind of drug for it, he could still very clearly feel his newest injury.

He was pissed off. All he wanted to do right now was run after Naruto and explain everything, tell him how he wasn't a monster and that he was actually the son of one of the greatest people to have lived. But he had been stupid and turned his back on his enemy. So he was stuck in the hospital for the time being with an injury he could have easily avoided if he hadn't been impulsive.

It seemed that he wasn't all that cool under pressure when it came to his kids...

"Ino, Sasuke, Kiba, and Tenten are going after Naruto?"

"Yeah."

Genma's frown softened just slightly upon hearing this. "Good."

* * *

Kiba ran at the forefront of their little group. He and Akamaru had locked onto Naruto's scent and refused to let go of it. And for the first time in... Well... The whole time they had known each other, neither Tenten nor Ino were hurrying or insulting him. Instead the girls were silent, following behind both boys. Their eyes were narrowed in determination, more than sure of what they wanted to do.

Even though none of them understood just what Mizuki Sensei had meant with what he had said, they knew it had hurt Naruto. He wouldn't be running away from them if it hadn't. And they were going to make sure that he understood that, no matter what, he was their friend.

"We're getting close!" Kiba barked out behind him, alarming his friends.

"How much farther?" Sasuke questioned, which made the boy turn his nose forward and sniff before turning back to him. "He's stopped a couple of clicks up northeast. Close to that den of killer moths we found a couple of months ago."

Sasuke frowned heavily upon hearing this, "Can you smell the moths?"

Akamaru barked at this, which had Kiba nodding in agreement with him, "Of course. But they're resting. They haven't been annoyed or contacted yet."

Tenten looked at Kiba quizzically, but said nothing as they continued to run from one tree branch to another. Then, once they were close to the spot where Naruto was supposed to be, they slowed down to a wary trot.

"N-Naruto?" Ino called out, which made Kiba hiss at her and shake his head. "What?!" She hissed back, earning an eye roll from the Inuzuka.

"You can't catch someone by surprise if you yell their name out." He growled out, only to get flicked on the ear by Sasuke. "Ow!"

"We're not trying to catch him by surprise, idiot." The last Uchiha grunted, then looked forward to where Kiba had been leading them. "Naruto, Ino, Tenten, and Kiba are here."

All was silent around them as they waited for an answer. But Kiba soon frowned and Akamaru whined softly.

"What's wrong?" Tenten asked him, noticing how serious he suddenly became.

The Inuzuka held his finger up for a moment, seemingly concentrating on hearing something, then looked at his friends. "He's sniffling."

"Is... Is Naruto _crying_?" Ino asked in complete shock.

Sure, she'd seen the blonde cry many times. But it was usually out of happiness, not sadness. On his first shared birthday he'd cried for just about an hour before he had calmed down. And whenever someone did something he considered especially touching he allowed a few tears to fall even now. But he'd never cried out of sadness in front of them. Not that she could remember.

Tenten grunted and crossed her arms over her chest, eyebrows drawing in. "Stupid Mizuki jerk... Should have kept his mouth shut."

They couldn't hear the soft sniffling that Kiba said was coming from Naruto. But the girls wouldn't blame him if he truly was crying. The teacher's words were harsh. And they must have cut deep coming from someone he trusted almost as much as Iruka Sensei.

"Naruto, I'm going to find you!" Sasuke called out into the dense shrubbery the blonde was hidden behind, then looked behind at his friends. "Don't say anything stupid."

With this warning, the Uchiha walked through the greenery and made his way towards his best friend. Towards his _brother_.

The hive of the killer moths hung high above them on a tall ancient tree. Naruto was hidden within the two biggest and thickest roots, only the tips of his hair visible. As if finding him without a nose like the Inuzuka's was hard enough without any moonlight. The blonde decided to make it even more difficult by choosing a difficult place to be spotted.

"Go 'way."

Sasuke didn't even hesitate upon hearing the watery growl. Instead he climbed over the large roots of the tree, settling himself against the thick trunk two roots away from Naruto.

They both remained quiet for a moment, Sasuke just staring up at the hive of moths, internally wondering if this truly was the wisest place to be holding a conversation. Then Naruto coughed before looking over at him.

"At least now I understand why the rest of the kids didn't want to play with me..."

His words were sad, much sadder than Sasuke thought would ever be possible for the ray of sunshine that was his best friend. And his blue eyes were rimmed by a vibrant red while tears still traveled down his cheeks.

Sasuke gave him a moment more to compose himself before he spoke up.

"So what?"

Naruto was stunned by the harsh question. His whole body froze, something that just wasn't right for the always energetic Uzumaki.

"S-Sasuke-"

"Shut up, Naruto." The Uchiha bit out harshly, turning away from his friend. "The other kids don't matter. They never did. Do you forget that we grew up together?" Then the boy sighed heavily, hanging his head, "I don't know what Mizuki meant. I don't know what kind of monster you could possibly be. What I _do_ know, though, is that you're my best friend. Naruto, we've been friends for years now. Why would you run away from us?"

Tears began to fall once more. The blonde didn't try to wipe them away. Instead he just struggled to breathe before saying, "B-Because I'm a monster! Who would want to be-"

He wasn't able to finish his self-depreciating sentence. Tenten burst in from where she had been left behind, throwing herself onto the blonde to hug him tightly.

"You're a dumbass but we're your friends!"

After this, Ino came rushing forward to wrap her arms around Tenten and Naruto. The distraught blonde shouted out at the sudden force impacting into him, but was not allowed to say anything.

"Ignore that Mizuki jerk! You're a great friend and we're never letting you forget that!"

After this, Kiba followed in an, oddly enough, more sedated pace. He grabbed Akamaru and placed him on the floor, only to have the pup run over and jump into the tight embrace.

Sasuke glanced at him in confusion, truly wondering why he was not part of the hug fest. The Inuzuka looked back at him for a moment before he shrugged slowly.

"I always knew Naruto was different."

The silence that fell over them was so loud that Sasuke could not believe what he had heard. Ino, Tenten, and Naruto stared back at Kiba with wide eyes, all of them stunned beyond belief.

Kiba raised his hand to scratch uncomfortably at the back of his head before he explained himself, "Inuzuka, remember guys? Sometimes I get insulted with how much you miss..." He sighed much too dramatically at this, but then explained himself, "Everyone's got their own unique scents. Thing is that I can tell when something's normal and when something _isn't_."

Then he looked over at Naruto, "You've always smelled like a fox. Like there's something off with you." Then he shrugged again, much too relaxed with what he was telling them for Sasuke's tastes. "Never stopped me from being your friend, though. And Akamaru likes you well enough even though he didn't trust you at first."

Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing. This whole time they had been left in the dark to a huge secret about Naruto. And the only one that had _any_ idea about it was the _Inuzuka_? What had he missed? How had he allowed it to get past him? He should not allow such big secrets to remain hidden from him!

The Uchiha glared at Kiba but said nothing. Instead he allowed his friends to speak out the outrage he felt, more than sure that they would be just as annoyed as him.

One. Two. Three.

Once four seconds had passed, Sasuke began to worry that he may have been wrong about his friends reaction.

But he was proven to not have needed to worry when Ino suddenly flew away from Naruto to unleash a flurry of punches on Kiba, all of which the boy took full on because he was not prepared for it.

"How could you have known this whole time and not have told us?! How could you be so calm about this?! Why do you think you're so cool!? Ah! Kiba Inuzuka, you're so infuriating!"

Sasuke smirked softly as Tenten joined in on Kiba's scolding, more than glad to know that he wouldn't have to dish out his own punishment because the girls were already doing it for him. But after a while, he got tired of hearing the Inuzuka's screams for mercy, so the Uchiha turned to look at Naruto. The Uzumaki was hugging Akamaru close to him, murmuring softly. Then, once he'd stopped, the dog began to lick his face and Naruto broke out into a large grin.

He wasn't sure just what it was that Naruto had asked to make Akamaru react in such a manner. But Sasuke was just glad to see his brother smiling again.

* * *

When Genma awoke the next morning, it was to a discordant motley of voices.

"You're never going off alone again, you hear me, kids? You were missing for _hours_!"

"We're fine, old man."

"Old man?! I'll have you know I'm younger than your Farmer man!"

"Doesn't matter. He's old. You're old. Anyone older than fifteen's old in my book."

The banter between Kiba and Kotetsu was loud enough for Genma to be able to separate it from the rest of the voices without too much difficulty. But the rest of the voices were somewhat muddled and confused, and he blamed that on the drugs that were still pumping through him. Although he guessed that was okay, seeing how he barely felt much pain at the moment.

"Of all the foolish things you kids could have done... Do you have any idea what the Hokage will now have to go through to fix this great mess you have created?"

Lord Hiashi's voice was harsh and just above a whisper. But it was such a hard and demanding tone that Genma could pinpoint it easily enough.

"We're sorry, Lord Hiashi." Naruto and Tenten chorused together, but Kiba didn't.

Wait a minute... Hadn't the Inuzuka brat been part of the-

" _Say it_."

Ibiki? What was he doing in there? Was the room even big enough to fit so many people?

"... Sorry, Lord Hiashi." Kiba grumbled and Genma could just hear the eye roll, then ended up having to surprise a smirk when he heard Kiba shout out in pain. "Why do I keep getting hurt?! I'm going rogue next time someone hits me!"

"I'd like to see you try, kid." Ibiki grunted with slight amusement dusting his tone. Then he grunted, "Maybe we should have agreed to having Genma moved from room. There are way too many people in here."

"Nonsense, Ibiki! We're all nice and cozy here."

Genma kept his eyes closed this whole time because, quite frankly, he wanted a few minutes to compose himself before he faced the scolding he would undoubtedly receive. Ibiki had most probably already told the rest of the adults about what he had done, which meant that a scolding was in place. Even though Raidou had made his annoyance more than clear the past night, he was sure that he would have a lot more to hear about his impulsive actions.

Admittedly, last night, he had not been a shining example of a competent shinobi. But he really didn't want people to tell him this.

"Yeah, big guy. Dad's right. We don't need a bigger room. What we need is for Farmer man to wake up." He could just hear the smile in Ino's voice. Although he could also hear a hint of worry, which made him feel bad.

He really should have been a bit smarter. But all he had seen was his kids in a dangerous situation. And then Mizuki had pulled that dirty trick about speaking of Naruto's biggest secret. He had _felt_ the pain in Naruto's voice. He couldn't have just allowed him to go off without saying a single thing. In retrospect, he had been wrong in trying to fix all the problems at the same time. But he felt like he truly needed to do it.

There were more conversations going on at the same time. Hinata, Neji, and Hanabi were conversing with Iwashi about something or another. He couldn't hear Shikamaru or Chouji, but that really didn't surprise him considering how quiet both boys were.

Genma rejoiced in the discordant symphony that was everybody in his room talking above each other for a few more minutes. He just rejoiced in all the little conversations, catching snippets here and there as he enjoyed the different things he was hearing. Although hearing Hiashi scolding the kids sure was odd. But then he breathed in, steeled himself, and slowly opened his eyes.

Everyone shut up as soon as they noticed that he had opened them.

The first thing the senbon enthusiast saw were Hiashi's stern eyes soften just slightly before the man nodded at him with a grim frown. He was standing to the right side of Genma's bed, arms crossed sternly over his chest. 'We're going to have to talk' that look said. Genma didn't want to.

Then his eyes drifted over to catch Ibiki's own, only to find that the man had a soft smirk on his face. He was standing a bit away from Hiashi with Inoichi at his side. He found the smirk odd but wasn't able to ask anything before he suddenly found his bed taken over by the kids jumping onto him.

"Farmer man!"

"Genma-san!"

"You're not allowed to be stupid ever again!"

"You're not allowed to go on missions either!"

"Kiba, you can't possibly-" Ibiki began to say, only to get cut off by the Inuzuka.

"Shh! I know my clan rules! And a clan head can forbid a shinobi from going out into the field if they deem said shinobi a danger to themselves."

Neji, Hinata, Hanabi, and Ino were hugging onto his neck, splayed out on the bed in a manner he never would have expected the Hyuga to be in. Ino? Yes. The Hyuga kids? Not so much.

Kiba was standing up on the corner of his bed, Naruto sitting beside him with a hand on Genma's calf. Sasuke was sitting on the chair Raidou had used the past night, Chouji to his left. Shikamaru and Shino were both leaning against the wall quietly, even though their eyes were on him. Tenten, Sakura, and Lee were all at the foot of his bed, glancing up at Kiba with quizzical looks on their faces.

"But he's not part of a clan, Kiba." Izumo cleared his throat from the doorway, sandwiched between Kotetsu, Iwashi, and Hana. Hayate was hidden in the farthest corner of the room, eyes drooping tiredly.

"That's where you're wrong." The Inuzuka suddenly pulled out a tattoo machine from the bag perched on his shoulders, turning with a wicked smile to look down at Genma. "It's time to show that you're an honorary Inuzuka!"

"What?! No fair!" Ino huffed, turning to look up at her friend with annoyance. "I want him to be part of my clan!"

And suddenly Genma found himself in the middle of an argument over which clan he should belong to.

The adults in the room didn't do anything to try and stop him. Instead Hiashi merely told the kids that he would not be accepted into the Hyuga clan because of his lack of Byakugan, which made his three kids deflate. Inoichi pointed out that to be a Yamanaka, it would be good for Genma to know a few mind related jutsu. And Kotetsu (who, realistically speaking, may never count as an adult in Genma's book) said that his clan didn't need any fancy requirements to be part of it.

In the end, the kids spent a whole hour arguing over which clan he should belong to. The Uchiha were never mentioned and that was for good reason.

When he was about to drift off into sleep because of the drugs a nurse had come in to administer, he felt a thump on his shoulder. So he opened his eyes to find Tenten smiling broadly at him, all the while Hana shuffled nervously and Kiba raised the tattoo machine.

"No."

"Come on! You'd be an Inuzuka! We'd even give you a dog!"

Luckily, Tsume chose to enter right then and kicked out all of the kids so that the adults could have a conversation. She scolded Kiba for having even thought about admitting someone into their clan without her permission and Hana for not having stopped her idiot of a brother.

"Come on, you mangy mutts! Out! It's adult time!"

"I'm an adult too, ma." Hana grumbled even as she followed after Sakura and Hinata.

"I ain't going! I'm a grown-" Kotetsu wanted to argue, but Hayate and Izumo grabbed him and pulled him out before he could say anything too stupid.

Once all of the kids had left, Genma was left in a room filled with people that literally made him feel small. Ibiki, even though he was younger than him, had this aura about him that spoke of irritation and being all around pissed off. Hiashi's own was more controlled, but he was still clearly annoyed. And Inoichi and Tsume both looked like disapproving parents.

Sighing softly, Genma looked up at all of them for a moment before saying, "Before you start ripping me to shreds I've got only one thing to say."

He looked around the shinobi and waited for them to make some signal of acknowledging his petition. Hiashi quirked an eyebrow. Ibiki grunted. Tsume sneered. And Inoichi nodded to ask him what he wanted say.

"I know I was stupid. There's no getting away from that. But that jerk said some things I couldn't ignore." Genma sighed heavily, shrugging softly. "I shouldn't have listened to those things, I should have kept my eye on Mizuki, I'm aware of that. But there's no way any of you could be anymore disappointed in me than I already am."

He looked them over, hoping that they would take his words into consideration. And when Hiashi smiled softly, he thought that he maybe would be able to get away from the harsh words he knew these men and woman were capable of.

"Nice try." The Hyuga's voice was laced with humor, but he soon frowned. "But you're not getting off so easily."

Genma deflated much like Kiba had a few minutes ago. Then he smiled awkwardly, "It was worth a try?"

"You've been hanging around those kids too much, Shiranui." Ibiki grunted, then began to list all of the things he had done wrong the past night.

* * *

Genma wasn't allowed to work for a month after the Mizuki incident. Which was fine by him, seeing how it gave him a chance to truly connect with Naruto and try to fix whatever damages Mizuki had caused.

The first few days had been awkward. Naruto didn't speak as much, even though he and Sasuke truly tried. But one day Naruto walked into his room while Genma slept and shook him awake.

"Genma?"

The man murmured softly as he felt himself being pulled away from his sleep, then opened his eyes to find Naruto's bright blue eyes looking at him with worry and confusion. Immediately he sat up and asked, "What's wrong, Naruto?"

"The old man..." Naruto hesitated for a moment, then breathed in heavily before he continued. "He says that I've got a demon spirit in me that was sealed inside of me. Kiba says that he's known for forever, but just thought it was a biology thing. And the small amount of records of the Kyubi we've been able to find say that it's supposed to be a blood thirsty monster that can't be stopped."

Genma blinked at the blonde boy, unsure of where he could be going with this information. He wasn't surprised to hear that he, along with some of his friends, had looked up more information of the demon in his body. But he wasn't sure how he was supposed to react.

"... Genma... Did you know my dad?"

The question hit him hard. In all honesty, he had hoped that he would never need to have this conversation with the boy. Partially because the Hokage had created laws against Naruto finding out about his true heritage. Partially because he ran the risk of the boy spouting off his big mouth and getting himself in trouble. But mostly because he wasn't ready to speak about Minato and his greatest mistakes just yet.

The man looked at Naruto for a few seconds breathing out softly and looking away. He glanced over at his windows, only to find that the morning hadn't even begun to rise yet.

"He was a good man." He struggled to say, struggled to smile, struggled to stay together. "Just like your mother... He was a ninja, you know."

This immediately caught Naruto's attention. "Seriously?"

This could be a great mistake. Naruto could make him truly regret saying all of this.

But the boy needed _something_ to believe. More than just cover ups and half-truths. He needed something he could grab and believe in firmly without needing to worry if he was being lied to again. And while Genma couldn't flat out tell him who his true parents were, he could at least tell him quite a few stories.

"Seriously." Genma smiled softly, then moved over to pat at the spot beside him on the bed. "Wanna hear a misadventure from when he was a genin?"

"Do I!" The boy jumped onto the bed and looked up at him with bright and innocent eyes.

 _Minato's eyes_.

Genma did his best to prepare himself for the bout of story telling he had just sentenced himself to. And with an almost strained smile, he began to tell the story Minato hated to tell but Kushina loved to hear about his first true mission as a genin. Much like Kiba's worst stories, cats were involved. But to an unbelievable degree.

~/~

At one point, Sasuke appeared with breakfast for the three of them. Then he settled himself in the corner of the bed, listening intently to the tale of when Naruto's father found himself in the chunin exams with faulty underwear. Genma continued to speak, telling both boys as many light hearted stories as he could remember of the man he had once sworn to protect.

The rest of the day was spent in that manner. They only left Genma's bed to go to the bathroom or get something to eat. And when Neji, Hinata, and Hanabi joined in, they settled themselves in his room without disturbing the peace they had managed to create. Instead they just listened to Genma speak. And the man just enjoyed being able to say so many good things about Naruto's nameless parents.

(He wouldn't notice it at the moment. But Genma's chest felt a thousand times later once the day had finished and the kids were all asleep on his bed.)

(Must have been finally coming to _some_ terms over Minato's death.)

* * *

As punishment for having been stupid enough to steal something from the Hokage's office, Kiba, Tenten, and Naruto were forced to work for the man for a month. Which, by the end of it, ended up feeling like more of a punishment to the man than the kids.

"Shopping cart race!"

The Hokage breathed in, counted to ten, and hoped nothing would break. Kiba's shout was loud and happy, the laughter that accompanied it clearly belonged to Kotetsu, and he could just hear Izumo's muffled voice telling them this was a bad idea.

Quite frankly, he should not have been surprised to find out that both chunin would spend their time with the kids, even though it meant they would ignore their work. But it annoyed him that even _Izumo_ allowed himself to be dragged into their bad ideas.

With a 'come here' motion of his hand, Hiruzen found one of his most trusted ANBU standing beside him. The man with the bear mask wasn't as active anymore because of the work he took on apart from ANBU, but he had been brought back to his private guard after the kids had managed to steal the Scroll of Seals.

"I wish for you to speak with the kids as soon as you're able to." Hiruzen told him, then explained himself, "I believe it is about time they understood the true severity of what they have done."

"Of course, Lord Hokage."

The man bowed, then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

He felt bad for sending Bear to do such dirty work. But the kids wouldn't listen to anyone that wasn't close to them. And it would be good for them in the long run to begin to understand how serious their lives would be once they became ninja.

"Kiba, you cheater!"

A crash outside of his office resounded loudly, then Kiba's boisterous laughter. "It's not my fault Izumo's slower than Kotetsu!"

He could feel the beginnings of a headache appearing... There would be much paperwork to fill out because of whatever those kids had just broken.

* * *

"No, don't strain yourself, Genma! I've got the groceries."

Genma quirked an eyebrow at Kotetsu's sudden spurt of kindness, but didn't question it.

He had gotten used to this by now. Ever since he had taken Mizuki's shuriken to the spine, the kids had treated him like glass. Which, if he could tell the truth, he didn't mind.

It felt nice to have people treating him well. Although, after a while, it _did_ get annoying that they didn't let him go more than a few feet away from them without tehm worrying about him.

"You never offered before, Ko." Genma smirked softly as the male grabbed the bags of his hands then harshly kicked his door open. It slammed against the wall, making Genma sigh heavily. "Not _one_ time..."

"I'm trying to be nice, Farmer man." Kotetsu smiled up at him, "Can't have you hurting yourself anymore, right? Especially with how the kids now have a security detail on you."

This caused Genma to do a double take.

"What did you just say?"

Kotetsu froze. He paled just a bit. Then he smiled nervously and ran into his kitchen. "Nothing!"

He had climbed out of Genma's window before the man could stop him.

* * *

"How's Lee's training coming along, Guy?"

"Perfect, my most youthful friend! He is such the fire cracker! I am proud to call him my student! Much like Neji-kun and Tenten-chan!"

Genma smiled softly at Guy's ever present enthusiasm before he turned to Ebisu.

It was one of those odd days in which they were all able to get together. There weren't any missions that needed immediate attention and the kids were all of with their own devices, most probably getting in trouble.

"And how about Sakura, Ebisu?" Genma asked as he turned to his quiet friend, "She seems a lot more confident recently."

"I would hope so." The man answered almost haughtily as he pushed his glasses up on his nose, although he soon smiled fondly. "Even though she does not have a raw talent for jutsu, she has determination and discipline. Her fireball is nearing Sasuke's in size."

Hearing this made Genma feel good. He knew that both of those kids had struggled with their shinobi craft, unlike most of their friends. Both had been born to civilians. They did not have access to early training like the rest had.

"You know, guys, it's nice to catch up with you." The senbon enthusiast clicked the senbon in his teeth for a moment before rolling it over with his tongue, "It's been a while."

Both his old teammates nodded, "Sure has." Ebisu agreed, then smirked deviously, "All that is missing is Choza Sensei."

Hearing the man's name made an idea immediately strike Genma. And from the way Guy lit up, he hadn't been the only one.

"He doesn't have to be missing." Genma smirked, then leaned forward as Ebisu and Guy did as well. "Should we go and grab him? Drag him out for a reminiscing day?"

"Let's." Both Ebisu and Guy smiled broadly, then they jumped out of the chairs in Genma's dining room table and walked outside.

The rest of the day was spent hunting their old teacher down. And when they finally found him, it was with Team 10 with him, completing a mission for his clan.

"Farmer man? What are you doing here?" Ino asked innocently as he, Ebisu, and Guy walked up to their old teacher.

"Being old men." He answered coolly with a shrug, then smiled over at the man, "What do you say we go to that bar you always took us to?"

Choza glared at him at the reminder of having enabled teenagers to drink alcohol, but soon smiled good naturedly, nodded, and turned to Chouji. "Once you finish up rearranging the kendo sticks, you can start patching up that hole your Inuzuka friend made when he barreled in chasing after those cats."

The boy was left somewhat dumbstruck as the four men began to walk away. Genma even heard him mutter quietly, "Why are they all going out together?"

"Don't know... Must be old people stuff." Shikamaru answered back, which made Genma smirk.

Old people stuff.

These kids...

* * *

Genma had been told by Ibiki to round up all of his kids and bring them to Training Ground 8 at five in the morning.

 _'I've spoken with their parents. They are aware of what is to happen. Do not worry. Just bring them early.'_

It was an odd order. But he wasn't about to go against his superior. So the man went about waking all of the kids up in the most creative ways possible (a small voice in the back of his head told him this was sweet, _sweet_ revenge, but he ignored it.). And once they were all mostly dressed and somewhat awake, he had them all march down to the training ground mentioned by his boss.

When they got there, they found the not-teenagers thrown on the floor, all mostly asleep. Hayate was the only one that was awake, and he was seated comfortably on top of Kotetsu's back.

"Hayate?" Sakura asked with a stifled yawn. "What's going on?"

The man coughed as he shrugged, "No idea."

Truly, it was odd to find that so many people were in the training grounds. But it seemed that some of the kids didn't care to try and figure out the mystery this proved to be. Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Tenten, Hanabi, and Chouji all slugged their way over to the mound of bodies that were their older friends to throw themselves wherever they saw fit. Shino was a bit more controlled and sat himself beside Kotetsu, who opened his eyes upon being awoken, smiled softly at him, patted his knee, then allowed his head to drop onto the grass below.

Sasuke scoffed and shook his head at them, all the while Ino murmured about them being idiots. Neji didn't say a thing as he leaned against a tree, although Genma could see that he was stifling a yawn. And Hinata swayed on her feet, clearly not wanting to join her friends on the floor, but too tired to try and look cool like her friends. Lee was the only one that seemed to be awake so early but was kind enough to punch a tree without making too much noise.

Ten minutes passed without anything happening.

Genma found himself beginning to wonder if he had gotten the date wrong.

But in a puff of smoke none of them had expected, two members of ANBU suddenly appeared in front of them. Bear he knew. But the woman that was with him he didn't recognize. She wore a mask of what seemed to resemble a tiger and her long black hair was pulled up into a high ponytail.

"Attention!" The man's voice was loud and booming and immediately woke all of the kids up.

The people on the floor scrambled to get up, even as Hayate stepped away from them with grace that reminded Genma of a limp cat. He wasn't as fluid as the Hyuga, but he wasn't awkward with his movements either. It was quite the odd sight of he could tell the truth.

"Five more minutes..." Naruto grumbled from the floor, even as Akamaru trampled over him to jump into Kiba's jacket before the Inuzuka stood up completely.

"Naruto, get up." Tenten hissed at her friend, only for him to wave him off.

"Need sleep, Tenten... Go 'way..."

Bear began to walk towards him then. All of the people around Naruto stepped away as the man got closer, then watched in awe as the man pulled him up by the scruff of his jacket.

"I said _attention,_ Uzumaki." The masked man growled into the kid's face.

Naruto blinked sleepily as he found himself suspended in air, then his face broke out into a large grin. "Bear!"

All traces of sleepiness left him as he wrapped his arms tightly around the large man's neck, making Genma sigh softly before shaking his head.

"We haven't seen you in forever! Where have you been? We've really missed you, you know! Boy, do I have things to tell you! Ino, get over here, Bear's your favorite too!"

Bear's body was stunned frozen at the sudden hug from the blonde. Then Ino walked up to him to join the hug, jumping onto his neck from his side.

"You silly Poppa Bear! We've missed you!"

"Wait, that's Bear?" Tenten blinked in confusion, which prompted Kiba to sniff the air.

"It sure is!" The Inuzuka smiled broadly as Akamaru's tail began to thump against his chest. "Bear we haven't seen you in forever!"

One by one, the kids noticed who the member of ANBU truly was. And one by one they began to throw themselves at him, gladdened to see their old childhood friend again.

Bear tried; he truly did. The man tried to push the kids away and speak harshly. But the kids were much too happy to see him again to listen to him and began to tell him all kinds of tales so he could catch up with everything that had happened while he had been missing.

Genma never did find out why it was that they were forced to go to that training ground so early in the morning.

* * *

Kiba was in his room after having gotten the pictures he had taken of the Scroll of Seals developed. He had more than a dozen sheets of jutsu he had found interesting. And he had those two jutsu that Tenten had found interesting.

Akamaru was gnawing on a piece of bone they had taken from Kuromaru with some craftiness and was looking over the pictures with slight awe.

 _"They all sound dangerous."_

"I know they do, dude." Kiba shrugged, pointing directly at the one with the words 'Summoning: Blood Oath'. "But this one's serious and powerful and awesome. Sure, I could die... But you have any idea how unstoppable you and I would be with this?"

If he was being honest, after having found out more about the demon inside of Naruto, Kiba wanted to get as strong as possible. What if that monster somehow managed to escape Naruto? What if it went on a murderous rampage like all the other times? Who would be able to stop the demon if they weren't prepared for it?

 _"They're all forbidden jutsu. You heard your mother."_ Akamaru growled as he stopped eating at his bone, looking at Kiba with a worried frown. _"Those things kill."_

Kiba rolled his eyes at the pup's worry then ruffled his head, "Dude, she's just saying that to get us to stay away from jutsu that aren't from our clan. But don't worry, I won't try and use these until I'm sure I can fight off whatever summons come from the contract." Then he shifted the papers to look at one that had a diagram of a human body with electricity running through it. "Think I should learning a lightning style move just for the heck of it?"

* * *

One day Kakashi walked up to him to ask if he thought his kids were ready for a C-Rank.

"Why would you think they aren't ready?" Genma answered with his own question, which made the younger man suck in a breath before shrugging.

"Honest answer?" He asked, one visible eye suddenly clouding up. "I'm a horrible teacher."

Genma was stunned to hear this admission. "What are you talking about, Kakashi?"

The man threw himself into his sofa gracelessly, not even caring about the mugs of coffee Genma had set on the table in front of them when he put his feet up.

"I got lucky with the Uchiha. He already knows so much that I haven't really needed to teach him anything. Sakura's got Ebisu, we all know she's learned nothing from me. And the only reason Naruto has yet to fall behind on his training is because of his permanent visitor." The man murmured with a shake of his head, "I'm not teacher material, Genma... _Help me_."

Kakashi Hatake _never_ asked for help. For the man to truly ask this of him, he must have been desperate.

Genma looked him over for a moment before nodding, "I'll help. When's this mission you want them to go on?"

"Tomorrow."

He allowed his distaste with this to be clear to Kakashi. "You're an idiot."

"I thought you could go on the mission with us to see team dynamics. We'd be able to move forward from there." Kakashi admitted and Genma was reluctant to see that this wasn't a bad idea.

Breathing in, the man relented. "Fine. Where are we going?"

"To the Land of Water. A simple escort mission. Nothing too flashy. But it's just enough to get their feet wet so that they can begin to get a feel for what a real mission's supposed to be like."

"... I'll go simply because I'm getting tired of being stuck within these four walls."

..~..~..

I have decided to give Genma a chance to date both Hiashi and Ibiki. These two are the ones that make the most sense to me for the story. So I will give them both a chance to shine before making any decisions!

Don't forget to give me some of those awesome reviews. They just truly do make my day!


	17. Chapter 17

_Chapter 17: The Way in Which Baki and Zabuza Found Themselves Inducted Into Genma's Group of Friends (The Reason why the Sand Siblings and Haku Were Now Part of 'The Cult'):_ Things were, more or less, back to normal. Even with the hiccup that had been Team 7's first out of village mission, things were stabilizing once more. Although Genma still couldn't truly understand why the Hokage had allowed a missing nin from Mist to live in his apartment, even with the excuse of him being the man's probation officer.

..~..~..

The start of the mission had been almost disastrous. They had been attacked by the (most probably self-named) Demon Brothers. Although Genma was proud to admit that neither he nor Kakashi had to step in to fight because of the genin's quick response time.

Naruto used a jutsu Genma had never seen in action before. A 'Shadow Clone' jutsu. One of the jutsu that had been sealed inside of the scroll he and his friends had stolen a few months back... Something that he really should not be flaunting around, considering how he'd stolen from the Hokage to learn it.

With four Narutos holding the surprised mercenaries down, Sakura and Sasuke teamed up with a giant fireball that engulfed them both and burned them so well that they wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

Genma was proud to see that the kids worked well together. But he was pissed off when he heard the person they were supposed to be escorting admitting that the mission was a thousand times more dangerous than what they'd been led to believe.

The only reason they continued was because the kids believed that they could finish up successfully. If it hadn't been because Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all boasted about being ready for anything, Genma would have insisted they turn back and hand this mission off to someone better prepared for more dangerous mercenaries.

They'd left the Demon Brothers tied up to a tree for the proper authorities to arrest them when they were stumbled upon. But before they completely continued, Genma gave the kids a big speech and warning about biting off more than they could chew. He still hadn't recovered completely from his injury and even though Kakashi was strong, he wasn't invincible.

The kids had all just smiled broad back at him, assuring him that they would be fine.

~/~

Things went smoothly once more as they continued on their journey. But when things went bad, they _really_ went to shit.

Genma had once gone against members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He had seen that large and horrifying blade wielded by another man that he wasn't sure on how to categorize when it came to terrifying. Zabuza Momochi was a fearsome foe. But the group that he and his old teammates had faced during their exam had been that as well.

But they had won. They'd managed to get Tazuna to his destination, none of the kids had died, and the mercenaries that had attacked them had given up before they had gotten killed.

That Haku kid was kind enough, Naruto insisted. Even though he'd gotten really close to murdering both Naruto and Sasuke before Sakura had been able to create an opening large enough with her fireball jutsu for her teammates to escape through.

Zabuza currently had poison running through his veins and it made him sluggish and slow, although it wouldn't kill him. With their combined forces, Genma and Kakashi had been able to stop the man from completing his mission. And unlike the last time, there were no 'hunter ninja from Mist' looking to keep Zabuza's body from falling into the wrong hands.

"What are we supposed to do with them?" Kakashi sighed as they made their way across the bridge and past the villagers that had amassed to fight off Gato.

Quite frankly, that man had been stupid to turn against Zabuza. Especially because that meant that, technically, he and the ninja from the Leaf were no longer enemies.

"He'd get killed if we leave him here, right?" Sakura asked softly, frowning softly as her eyes looked over Haku's injured form.

The boy had been insane. He had tried to save Zabuza from a blow that would have killed them both if Zabuza had not managed to push him away at the last moment and take part of the hit. If it had gone like Kakashi had planned, Zabuza would have died. But because he had managed to wrench off the dog at his shoulder at the last second, he had been able to move and take it to the arm.

With all of the injuries he had sustained during the fight, Zabuza was as defenseless as a newborn cub. And Haku wasn't any better off, seeing how he had been injured quite a bit by Gato's men while he tried to protect his master.

"He would. He's a traitor, Sakura." Genma knew that tone of hers. She was thinking up of something that she knew he would not like. And he was usually never able to tell her no. "Which means, if we don't want trouble with Mist, we should hand him over."

"But they helped us out in the end." Naruto frowned, then looked at Sasuke over Haku's shoulder to get him to agree.

Both boys were carrying the boy, much like Genma and Kakashi were balancing Zabuza's weight. Naruto, unlike Sasuke, had apparently spent some time with Haku. When that had happened, Genma wasn't sure. But the blonde was adamant about having the boy around and would undoubtedly fight for this.

(Naruto wouldn't say it, but Genma knew that this was because he identified with the boy.)

(Sometimes Genma really regretted the children being so kind.)

"They're dangerous to leave running around..." Sasuke admitted with a heavy sigh, which made both his teammates glare at him. But he didn't really react to that and instead continued, "But if they were indebted to us, they couldn't really hurt the Hidden Leaf... And aren't strong allies much better than strong enemies?"

"No." He deadpanned immediately, but Genma knew that this was already a lost battle.

Sasuke had agreed with Naruto and Sakura. When _he_ thought something was good, it usually happened. And from the way Kakashi was looking away from him and not saying a single thing; looking very much like a kid caught with his hands in the cookie jar; it was more than evident what _he_ thought of this whole thing.

Beside him he could hear Zabuza groan and shift just slightly, but say nothing. And Haku didn't seem like he was in any position to think about anything, much less try and talk them against this.

* * *

"This is a Swordsman of the Mist."

"Yes, Lord Hokage."

"He is standing in my office with his student."

"Yes, once more, sir."

"... Shiranui..."

"In my defense-"

Genma tried to defend himself. But then the Hokage raised his hand and stopped him. "No need. I am more than aware that you were outnumbered... Although... Did you at least _try_?"

"... I was outnumbered five to two." He was loathe to admit it, but it was the truth.

"Five?" The older male's eyebrow quirked up in question, which then made Genma gesture to the boy standing beside Zabuza in the middle of the room.

"Team 7 as a whole went against me. And Haku wanted to live. Zabuza was the only one that did not want to end up here."

"I still don't want to be here." The man grunted, arms crossing over his chest as he undoubtedly frowned behind his mask.

Haku, though, bowed with a soft smile. "We are extremely grateful for you not having killed us upon our arrival, Lord Hokage."

"I was outnumbered, sir."

The Third Hokage glared at him for a moment before sighing heavily and nodding. "Alright. But this will all be on _your head_ , Shiranui. Now, is your apartment large enough for two more to live in it?"

Genma blinked in surprise at the question, "Why would you ask-" Then his eyes widened and he frowned. "You're not sticking these two with me!"

"I _am_. You have a habit of picking up strays after all. Two more wouldn't hurt."

"Lord Hokage-"

"I am sure Naruto would not mind having another brother. And who better to keep a man like Zabuza Momochi under control other than the person that saved him from getting killed by the village he betrayed?"

"Kakashi was there too." Genma tried, only to have the man wave him off and shake his head.

"It's you or these two are sent back to the home filled with those they betrayed that now want them dead."

Genma couldn't believe this... But he couldn't say no to the Hokage either. He'd never hear the end of it from Team 7.

* * *

"Come on, Haku! We can show you around the village!"

It was unsettling how well Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura got along with a boy that had tried to kill them all not even more than a month ago. How could they be such good friends with someone that had literally gotten within an inch of killing Sasuke?

The only thing that brought Genma some kind of comfort was that, even though Team 7 had accepted Haku and Zabuza much too well, the more distrustful of the kids like Shikamaru, Hanabi, Neji, and Shino had not. Ino had immediately gushed about the new boy's hair and fashion sense, Hinata had enjoyed finally having someone to speak to about flowers, and Tenten liked having a new friend around that wasn't as annoying as the rest of the males.

Chouji, Rock Lee, and Kiba, much like Team 7, had taken to Haku almost immediately. A new friend meant new pranking possibilities, after all. And from what he had heard from whispers around his apartment, the kids already had a master prank in place that would use Haku's unique gifts.

The older kids just accepted Haku's presence as something they would have to get used to. Even though Kotetsu didn't like him; if Shino didn't trust him, then Kotetsu had enough reason to doubt him; Izumo and Hana liked him. Hayate was currently away on a mission, so he could not really judge the kid. And Iwashi just accepted him as a new kid that would eventually burrow his way into Genma's heart like the rest had managed to do.

"We have already walked through the village many times, Sakura... Are you sure it is not alright that Zabuza goes with us? All he has done since we managed to come here has been stay in the apartment with Genma."

Haku was a respectful enough boy that didn't ever start any kind of conflict. Which was actually pretty interesting, seeing how Naruto was so predisposed to conflict whenever annoyed. Even though he loved them both, Naruto was known to have his tiffs with both his teammates. Although with Haku, all Naruto did was smile broadly and ask to show him his favorite places around Konoha.

Dare he think... Could Naruto possibly have a crush on the long haired boy?

Genma smirked around his senbon at the thought of the young blonde possibly having a crush on someone, but shook his head with a soft chuckle. He was getting much too domestic. These thoughts were supposed to be left for parents and annoying siblings. He was much too cool to be thinking about such things.

"Haku, go with your friends. I don't really want to go out in the village." Zabuza grunted from the windowsill farthest from the kitchen, eyes closed while his left leg dangled, right leg pulled up to his chest.

The dark haired boy frowned softly at his words, then pressed, "But you have not gone out in two weeks, Zabuza. You need to get some fresh air-"

"Get enough from this window, kid."

"And interact with people that aren't Genma or Kakashi." The boy finished without missing a beat, now completely used to getting interrupted at all times.

Zabuza grunted at his words then turned to look at him through narrowed eyes, "I'm fine, kid. Go out with your friends and have some fun."

When Genma looked up from his spot on the dinner table as he ate his breakfast, he found that Naruto, Sasuke, Haku, and Sakura were all looking over at Zabuza with worried frowns on their faces. Clearly, they all worried about Zabuza's health and his choosing to stay in a kind of self-imposed confinement within Genma's home, even though he could walk around with supervision.

Sighing softly, the man smiled over at them and stood up from his seat. "Don't worry kids, I've got this."

All of the kids looked over at him with quizzical expressions, then Sakura smiled and nodded. "Alright, Farmer man." Then she turned to the three males and motioned for them to follow her. "Let's go guys, we can try and meet up with Team 8 or 10 and have some kind of joint exercises."

Naruto looked at her with apprehension, but Sasuke soon agreed and moved to open the door. Haku looked behind and over at Zabuza, clearly hesitating because he wanted Zabuza to go out, but Sakura urging him to walk out had him leaving without saying anything.

Once they were all gone, the senbon enthusiast clinked the senbon in his mouth against his teeth, shoved his hands into his pants pockets, and walked over to the large man by his windowsill.

Honestly speaking, he didn't mind having Haku around. The rooming arrangements were simple, Naruto and Sasuke's room had enough space for another bed once their old chest was taken out, and the long haired boy didn't care for luxury as long as he had a place to sleep. Besides, he was a nice and calming presence around the household that didn't have to threaten to get Naruto to listen.

Sure, Sasuke and Naruto got along excellently. But they were _brothers_ at this point. And the one thing brothers did better than any others was _fight_. They looked after one another, made sure each other was safe and sound, and helped out whenever the other needed it. But when they fought, they went at it like cats and dogs. Having Haku around made Genma know that he wouldn't have to get called in for Naruto getting into trouble every other day.

Zabuza, on the other hand, was more of a wild card. He'd taken Genma's bed because he was too big to sleep on the couch, which meant that Genma was now stuck sleeping outside of his own room. If he wanted something to change, he'd have to either move into a new apartment or ask Zabuza to share. Which he wouldn't because he wasn't suicidal.

Besides the one unfortunate occurrence that was Zabuza taking over his room, Genma couldn't complain. Even though the man was grumpy on his best days and terrifying on his worst, he didn't cause any trouble. He just stayed out of the way and didn't cause any trouble. Which made distrusting him that much harder. But trusting him less so easy at the same time.

"Yo." Genma called out to get his attention, then continued once Zabuza was looking at him. "Get dressed and eat something. Let's go to the training grounds so you can stretch your legs."

The Demon of the Mist's eyes narrowed upon hearing him speak, then he grunted, "I don't want to go out."

Genma shrugged, "Thought you'd enjoy fighting me again. Without any weapons this time, of course, seeing how your sword was taken away from you..." Then Genma sighed softly, motioning for Zabuza to move with his head, "Come on, I know you're itching to do _something_. This'll be a good way to blow off whatever steam you've got against me."

The mongrels wanted Zabuza to go out. Zabuza needed to get some fresh air. And Genma felt like the only true way to begin to build any relationship with this man was through sparring.

He could try and kill him... But that was highly unlikely, seeing how Haku was so enraptured with the life they were now living...

"I could kill you."

Even though the man growled this out, it had barely any venom within. Which made Genma have to suppress a smirk lest he risk angering the other man.

"I trust you to not kill me."

~/~

"You mean to tell me that Genma's newest strays are two known criminals?"

"Yup, Lord Hiashi."

Hiashi quirked an eyebrow at Kotetsu's overly upbeat answer, then turned to look at his nephew, who looked back at him with a soft frown. "And what do you two think of them?"

"I have not spent enough time around either of them to have formed a proper opinion, Lord Hiashi." Neji answered honestly, then turned to look at Kotetsu.

The spiky haired male frowned softly, crossing his arms over his chest, "That Haku kid is nice enough. And he's already friends with about half of the kids. Even though Shino doesn't really trust him. And Zabuza... Well... I can't say I could ever say something nice about a bastard like him."

It was odd to hear Kotetsu sound so serious and haunted. But it was something that didn't truly surprise Hiashi. He had come to learn a lot about this young man over the years together and hearing that he was not a fan of one of the members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist did not come as a shock to the Hyuga. Although... He had not fought in the war... And the Swordsmen of the Mist had not been around for quite some time in a complete unit, they were all disbanded... Just how did Kotetsu even know about these men enough to hate them?

With curiosity eating away at him, Hiashi decided to indulge himself. He sent Neji off for some more training with both of his cousins, then turned to Kotetsu once the boy was gone.

The young male had grown up before his eyes. From a hyperactive teenager with a slight problem with authority, Kotetsu had grown into a sturdy and strong young man.

Would this sensation of _pride_ be the same one he felt when Neji finally hit this age? Or would it be even stronger when it came to his nephew? And how would he feel when both his daughters were strong young women, more than capable of defending themselves against all the bad in the world?

Kotetsu looked at him with unsure dark eyes, then sighed and hung his head, "One of the Swordsmen killed my cousins during the war. My parents made sure to let me know that, if ever I should see one, I should run away as fast as possible. Just the mention of any kind of sword terrified my family... My cousins were killed brutally, Lord Hiashi... What killed them... It couldn't have been human..."

Hiashi had heard of the Swordsmen's brutality on the battlefield, but had been fortunate enough to not have seen it with his own eyes. If what Kotetsu said was true, then his deceased cousins had not been afforded a swift or humane death. And it would explain just why he held so much apprehension towards the man that now stayed in Genma's home.

"You worry that the same will happen to Genma if he is not careful."

Kotetsu gave him a sad, lopsided smile, one that he never gave anyone else. The man was proud and wanted to present himself as strong and sure of himself at all times. But when alone with Hiashi, he pushed his pride to the side and allowed himself to crumble and be _sad_. And Hiashi did not mind being the one he turned to, seeing how it was better than Kotetsu getting himself hurt by trying to hide his pain at all times.

"How are you so good at reading people?"

Even with all of the years that had passed and all the things the male had experienced, Kotetsu could still sound like an awe-struck and amazed child. It was unfair that someone so innately _pure and innocent_ had to deal with so much weight upon his shoulders.

"Years of practice, Kotetsu." Hiashi smiled softly at him, hoping to offer him some support without having to speak. Then he nodded at the man, "Shall we accompany the children in their training? I believe they would be more than grateful if you would teach them some forms when it comes to wielding weapons."

Kotetsu nodded soberly, a pace he barely ever adopted. So Hiashi got up from his spot knelt before the male, offered his hand, pulled Kotetsu up, then walked out of his room and towards the training area where his children waited.

He would not be surprised if Kotetsu was hurt by his parents aversion to swords... One of the greatest weapons in his arsenal, after all, was a beautifully crafted sword gifted to him by Izumo a couple of years ago. Something he had wanted for years, before tragedy had struck and his parents had been killed. Something he had received only a few days before their deaths.

* * *

When the time came for the Chunin Exams to be hosted in Konoha, Genma didn't pay too much attention to the buzz about them. He was currently busy trying to pull Zabuza into something akin to a 'friendship'- even though he would feel a thousand times better if someone else ended up putting Zabuza up and taking the weight off his shoulders. And because he was busy with this and his usual work, he didn't have much time to speculate about genin becoming chunin in the next few months.

His disinterest in the Exams quickly turned into interest, though, when the teachers of all the kids ended up signing them up compete.

In complete honesty, he wasn't prepared to see any of the kids in such a setting. He still remembered his own Exams and he didn't remember them fondly. Those memories were some he'd never forget and not for good reason. He wasn't sure if any of them were prepared for what they would find.

But when they told him, they all looked so proud and _ready_. Even Sakura, who still had trouble believing in her own skills, was prepared to take part in the test alongside her best idiots.

Kiba, of course, was ready to 'kick some ass and bust some heads'. Shino and Hinata were much more tame, but were still excited at the possibility of moving up in the ranks.

Shikamaru was indifferent. He'd be fine if he passed the exams, he'd be fine if he failed. Ino, though, had a fire in her eyes that gave Kiba and Naruto a run for their money. Chouji, much like Sakura, was somewhat worried but still excited.

And Team Guy was just happy that their teacher allowed them to participate this year. He hadn't allowed it last year because he thought they were still too young. But now they would be competing alongside their younger friends to pass these exams.

Because of this, Genma was worried for two reasons. The first being that he wasn't wholly sure that the kids were ready for such a torturous exam. The second, and the one that terrified him, was that they ran the risk of destroying friendships as they tried to ascend in the ranks. And no promotion was worth losing a good friend.

He would have to trust that the kids were ready for the risk that came with fighting their best friends and hope for the best. Because he refused to be the one to tell them any kind of bad news while the kids were flying high on their clouds of illusions of the future.

... The kids could do this... They could go into the Chunin Exams as great friends and walk out without anything having changed. Genma was sure of it.

* * *

Kakashi sighed heavily as Naruto continued pestering him about how Haku should be a part of the exams.

He'd explained enough times already why the boy could not be part of them. First, he did not have a team. Second, he was from the Mist and a traitor. Third, he was under probation. Fourth, he wasn't even a _genin_ in the Hidden Leaf.

But did Naruto listen?

Of course not. The hardheaded blonde could be a complete _idiot_ sometimes.

"Come on, Kakashi Sensei! He's got amazing abilities! It'd be a shame if he wasn't a chunin!"

Sasuke and Sakura had long since understood why it was that Haku did not qualify for the Exams. They had long ago left to go and find Ebisu, muttering about needing some tips from the man that had taken up a big chunk of Sakura's training.

Kakashi felt guilty about leaving the girl behind when it came to the strong attacks. But he soothed this guilt by reminding himself that in the poisons department, he had been able to teach her a lot more than Ebisu would ever have been able to do. Not as much as Genma, he would never fool himself into thinking he knew as much as the senbon lover. But enough to make her a true danger in the stealth and kill department.

"Naruto..." He really felt like tying the kid up and just leaving him to fate in the training grounds. But if he did that, Genma would get angry and scold him. And even though he didn't mind Genma being angry with him, it would most probably mean that he would not get free food from his friend. And free food was the best kind of food.

"Scarecrow!"

Grunting at the nickname, Kakashi passed his hand through his hair, "... Want to go and get some ramen?" Then, after a brief pause, he added, "I'll be paying."

It would be a distraction and would hopefully get Naruto's mind off of Haku for a few minutes. Minutes that would be peaceful heaven spent in blissful silence.

"Let's go, Scarecrow!"

* * *

One day as Team 7 and Haku walked down the streets of Konoha, they met up with Konohamaru and his little friends. After a brief conversation in which Sakura was left giggling at Konohamaru and Naruto's 'rivalry', they all decided to set out together and get some food. All was well, really, until Konohamaru decided to have a race no one else wanted to be a part of. Even though the older kids told him they wouldn't run and his friends tried to stop him, the honorable grandson set off on his own.

The only reason he stopped was because he was stopped. Not by his friends, but by a large road black in the very middle of his trajectory. He fell flat on his but and shouted at the rude blocker, telling whoever it was that they were complete jerks.

His tune changed suddenly when a hand grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him up into the air to face a painted purple face and dull brown eyes.

"What were you saying, squirt?"

"Put me down, you big oaf!"

"Konohamaru!" His friends shouted in surprise and fear, which made him look back at them to find them staring at him in worry.

"You know, you should be a bit more respectful of your elders." The monster with the painted face growled at him, face coming closer to glare into the young boy's face. "Now say you're sorry."

"You were in the way!" Konohamaru scowled, pursing his lips in distaste. "Do you know-"

His words were not allowed to be completed. Instead the painted person that had grabbed him began to shake him violently, all the while growling, "I told you to apologize, _squirt_."

"Hey! Let go of him!" Konohamaru heard Naruto shout out, then, when he looked back at his friend, found him marching up and towards them. "Why don't you mess with someone your own size?!"

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted, although Sasuke and Haku said nothing. Instead both males remained quiet as they watched the scene unravel before them, mind analyzing everything before they acted.

"The little brat ran into me and started insulting me. Why do I have to take all of his shit?" The mean painted monster growled as he looked away from Konohamaru over to Naruto, glaring over at the blonde. "If he just says sorry, I will gladly leave him alone."

"I'll never say it! You're the jerk that was standing in the middle of the street!"

"And you're the jerk that was _running_ in the middle of a _crowded street_!"

Both males growled and glared at one another after this shout from the monster, sneering in one another's face. Konohamaru did _not_ like the way this person shouted and spoke to him. It was unlike anything anyone else dared to do. The only person to ever dare stand up to him so fiercely was Naruto, but even _he_ hadn't been such a big jerk.

"Kankuro, you're shouting at a _kid_. Please calm down."

It was at this point that Konohamaru noticed that there were two people standing behind the jerk that had grabbed him. One was a female with blonde hair done up in four different pony tails and the other was a male with bright red hair. The girl looked annoyed and had been the on to speak up, all the while the boy looked indifferent. The girl had her hitai-ate wrapped around her neck and the symbol on it was that of the Sand Village.

"Oh, come on, Temari, the little jerk needs to learn some mann-"

"Kankuro."

If Konohamaru had been scared before, there were no words to explain how he was feeling once the red head had spoken up. His whole body froze up and had a shudder shatter straight through it. His heart clenched and his chest tightened uncomfortably. And it was all because of the boy's cold and emotionless voice.

"Let go of the boy."

For a moment, all stood still, nobody moved. Then the boy with the painted face scoffed, rolled his eyes, and lowered Konohamaru closer to the ground. But instead of letting him down on his feet, the jerk allowed him to drop onto the floor with a surprised 'Oof'.

"Happy, Gaara?"

As Konohamaru jumped up and dusted himself off, he listened in to see if any of his friends would say anything. Maybe Sakura would call the jerk out on being a big meanie. Maybe Naruto. But it was the most surprising of them that spoke up.

"... Gaara?"

Hearing his name come from somebody that wasn't the painted jerk made the red head's face actually emote. Then he looked over at Team 7 with slightly widened eyes, only for them to widen just a tiny bit more.

"Haku? You live in the Village Hidden in the Leaves?"

The usually quiet friend of Team 7 walked forward with a soft smile on his face as he nodded, "Master Zabuza and I are now living here. It is quite the interesting story, if I could tell you the truth."

"Really? Your little guard shark truly allowed you both to come all the way here?" Gaara's face looked only marginally surprised, much like his voice didn't sound too emotional. In Konohamaru's eyes, he didn't even seem all that intrigued by what was occurring. Even though Haku did.

"Yes, he did... Would you..." Haku faltered for a moment, then smiled brightly, "Would you care to join me for lunch? We could catch up, eat a bit... It could be like old times."

Haku was completely hopeful. So much so that Konohamaru felt bad for the guy. This red head was as much a jerk as the monster that had a painted face. There was no way that he would actually agree to-

"Just you and I?" The red head asked, then narrowed his eyes as he looked at the floor. After a moment of thinking, he grunted out, "Sure. Kankuro, Temari, tell Baki I found an old friend and am going to come back to our quarters later on in the day."

The blonde girl looked at the red head uncertainly, all the while the jerk with the painted face shrugged. "Are you sure about that, Gaara? Wouldn't you want us to come along?"

"Yeah, Haku." Naruto agreed suddenly, looking over at his friend, "Don't you want some company other than a guy that we've never seen before in our lives?"

Konohamaru had never seen Haku look angry. He wasn't even sure if the guy _could_ get angry. But from the way his eyes narrowed and his whole stance tensed, the boy guessed he wasn't pleased with his friend's words.

"I have known Gaara for long enough, Naruto. Now I will be going with my friend for lunch. Please tell Genma that I am safe, am more than aware of the rules, and will keep from getting into any kind of trouble. If any questions arise, Zabuza will be more than helpful with the answers."

With these final words, Haku motioned for the red head to follow him. And soon enough they were both walking away, leaving the Konoha natives more than a little bit confused.

"You all know Haku?" Sasuke asked both people left behind by the Sand native.

The blonde girl looked him over for a second as she contemplated her answer, then sighed and nodded, "Yeah. They've been friends for a long time now..."

"Would you mind explaining this?" The Uchiha asked, then smiled charmingly, "We'll buy lunch."

* * *

When Genma heard knocking at his door after Team 7 had informed him of Haku's odd friend, he didn't expect much. Maybe one of the kids wanted to sleep over the nights before the exams because of anxiety. Maybe one of the older kids wanted to muscle their way into his apartment for the heck of it. Hell, maybe Hatake or Namiashi just wanted some free food.

The person that appeared at his door, was someone he didn't even know.

"I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I was told that I would be able to find the last member of my team in your home." The man before him had dark skin, one eye covered by an interesting looking headdress, one visible brown eye, and unique markings on his face. He spoke politely yet with strength, which spoke to him being sure of himself. "My name is Baki and I am from Sunagakure."

"Did I just hear Baki?" Zabuza suddenly called from behind Genma, then the senbon enthusiast felt the large presence of the Demon of the Mist looming over him. "You and those runts of yours are here for the Chunin Exams, aren't they? They're about Haku's age, right?"

Zabuza had gotten much more talkative recently. He still clammed up about things that he deemed unimportant or too personal, but he didn't mind speaking as much as before. And he even offered to begin a few conversations during the early morning, when he was just a tiny bit vulnerable from early morning grogginess.

Apparently, for a time after he had found Haku, they had wound up in Suna. During their time there, they had met the Kazekage's children and Haku had befriended the man's youngest kid. Gaara, apparently.

"Zabuza?" The dark skinned man's eye widened in surprise when Zabuza appeared by the doorway, but soon composed himself and nodded at him. "It's good to see you're still alive and free. Somehow managed to avoid getting killed in Mist?"

"Yeah... Lot of good that did me..." The man murmured almost regretfully, then offered, "Haku and Gaara aren't back yet. But I'm sure Genma wouldn't mind you staying here until they decide to appear."

It was odd to hear Zabuza sounding so... _Relaxed_. But the only times he was ever even remotely happy were when Haku was around. And if Genma was interpreting stuff correctly, Haku having an old friend like Gaara still around must bring _some_ type of happiness to the jaded man.

Genma looked Baki over one more time before he pushed Zabuza away from the doorway and himself, then stepped to the side and offered the man to come in. "Would you like something to drink or eat? I'm making dinner right now."

* * *

When the Chunin Exams finally came around, all of the kids were excited. And if the kids were excited, there was no word for how the older kids were feeling.

"Are you guys really going to set bets on the kids?"

Izumo was the only one that was truly flabbergasted by the betting that he was seeing take place. Especially because of all the people that were currently betting on the children.

"Hush, kid. This is completely fine. It's not money so it's not illegal. We're just trading information and favors." Tonbo smiled slyly, bandages around his eyes crinkling because of the movement. "You should be happy Anko isn't here to get in on the action. _Then_ shit would get dangerous."

At this, his fellow partner in crime, Shimon, nodded his head sagely and added, "If she were here, we'd be talking about who dies when and how much each head would cost. And _that_ shit is fucked up."

Izumo grunted at his elder's words, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Even though it may be fucked up, there was no doubt in his mind that the men before him would still be taking part in the betting, no matter how macabre.

In all honesty, he had expected this to happen. Seeing how Kotetsu was one of the most excitable people in the world and how proud he was of his 'little Aburame brother', Izumo completely expected him to begin betting. And Iwashi wasn't any better off, deeming Neji and Hinata the finalists that would end up going toe to toe in the final round of the Chunin Exams.

What he _hadn't_ expected was Hayate and Hana taking part in the betting as well.

"Come on, guys, you haven't seen Sasuke and Kiba! These two are going to go the distance. Mark my words!" In a show of sudden pride in her picks, Hana smacked her hand down on the table they were sat around, all three of her dogs barking in agreement behind her.

"Sakura and Naruto." Hayate coughed out in a much more sedated manner, then just barely smirked at everyone around him, "These kids... I know what I'm saying."

The chunin around them all had their favorites. Tonbo had his eye on Shikamaru simply because of his Nara heritage. Iwashi had reason to believe that both of his Hyuga charges would be getting far. Hana was of course betting on the two she was the most attached to. Hayate's picks were somewhat odd, but understandable considering how much time he spent trying to avoid the pink haired girl. And Shimon believed that Rock Lee and Neji were going to be the ones going head to head in the end. Maen Nara, oddly enough, deemed Tenten to be one of the ones getting to the finals and another to be a member of another village.

Izumo didn't know which kid he would be voting on. He felt kind of bad that there were some that weren't even considered likely to win, like Chouji or Ino. But with the other genin being as strong as they were, Izumo wasn't all that surprised. While both kids had a good head on their shoulders, they were a bit behind on their training. They were skilled and strong... But Izumo knew they just weren't ready to _win_ the Chunin Exams.

Although he did hope _all_ the kids were able to pass the first two stages of the test. That way they would be able to walk out with their heads held high and say that they had _done their best_.

"You guys are sick." He grunted with a shake of his head as he crossed his arms over his chest, then looked to the side to find Ibiki Morino heading their way. "And I think it's about time we go."

Hana and Hayate all blinked in slight surprise as all of the chunin around them began to get up from the table, "Wait, where are you guys going?"

"With me. These are all proctors during the first phase of the examination." Ibiki answered in his gravelly, yet somehow relaxed tone.

This made Hayate's eyes narrow and he questioned, "Is there no conflict of interest? I mean, I think just about everyone here has _some_ kind of relationship with at least one of the Hidden Leaf hopefuls."

"That's true. But I'm more than sure that my men are able to separate duty and feelings professionally." The scarred man grunted as an answer, then looked over at Kotetsu. "Isn't that right, Hagane?"

Being singled out made Izumo's best friend bristle, "Oy, why am _I_ getting singled out?" Then he crossed his arms over his chest and stuck his nose high in the air in a show of disdain. "I may love my little brother, but if I catch him cheating, I'll kick him out! I know the damn rules, Morino."

The older of the two grunted and shook his head slightly, then motioned for everyone to follow him. "Let's go. We only have an hour to set up and make sure everything is ready. Hagane, Kamizuki, you know what your first task is."

Once Ibiki's back was turned and a good part of their colleagues had their backs turned, Kotetsu screwed his face up in a mocking gesture that made Izumo smack his shoulder. Then the more sedate of the two smiled over at the friends they were leaving behind, "We'll see you once we've finished up with our job, yeah? And, please, no more talk of betting once we come back."

Luckily for him, both chunin that weren't part of T&I smiled at him and agreed, "No more betting. Promise. See you two later."

With this assurance, Izumo thanked his friends and wrapped an arm around Kotetsu's shoulder to drag him along. Instead of fighting him off, his friend just wrapped his arm around Izumo's waist and smiled at him, "Think we'll be able to fool them with the genjutsu?"

* * *

The day that the exams started, Genma was not able to accompany the kids to the first stage. They had wanted him to go with them. But because most of T&I was taking care of the first stage, someone needed to stay behind. And seeing how he was the person with the biggest amount of connection with the children, he couldn't truly be a proctor.

Along with him, Baki and Zabuza decided to tag along. Haku had been left to accompany his friends to and from the Chunin Exams as moral support.

It was odd, if he was telling the truth, to allow _two_ outsiders to come into the T &I department while he worked simply because he had nothing better to do. But they were harmless enough and Genma's job that day was just to make sure that the rookies left to the paper work didn't mess anything up. There weren't any dangerous documents they could get their hands onto. So there was no true danger. Besides, they wouldn't be anywhere near any of the prisoners. Everything would be okay.

"You have quite the colorful assortment of children, Shiranui-san... Just how did you come about taking care of so many different kids?" Baki asked conversationally as they walked through the front doors of the building designed to make civilians think this was the true location of T&I.

Humming in though, Genma asked, "I haven't told you that story, have I, Zabuza?"

"No." The man replied bluntly. "You fill my head with a lot of different stories but have forgotten to tell me about one of the most interesting ones."

His rather crude words made Genma smile softly, then he shrugged, "Well then, good thing we've got a day to ourselves."

So he spent the rest of his day answering a lot of Zabuza and Baki's questions, asking his own whenever he deemed it necessary.

~/~

When the three men returned to Genma's apartment, it was to find _all_ of the teams waiting for them. Not only the ones from Konoha. The three genin under Baki's tutelage were there as well, along with Haku.

"We all passed the first stage, Farmer man!" Genma heard Kiba shout as soon as he had entered through his door, then found himself being tackled into a hug by a broadly grinning Naruto.

"We're all going to the second stage!" Naruto cried out in glee, which made Genma smile as he patted his head softly.

"That's good to know, kids." Then he glanced over the three that Baki taught, sizing them all up, "You three too?"

The red head known as Gaara grunted with a nod, only for his older brother to answer, "Yeah. But don't worry, we'll wipe the floor with these Konoha weaklings in the second stage."

"No way, Drag Queen!" Kiba growled in anger, "We'll show you!"

"Please, Dog Breath." The blonde girl rolled her eyes with a smirk on her lips, "Heel, boy. Don't get any slobber on me."

"Seriously, Kiba, calm down. We don't even know what's going to happen next. We may not even be fighting them." Ino shook her head at the Inuzuka's theatrics, then smiled sweetly at Genma, "Bear passed by for a few seconds but then had to leave. He asked us to tell you that the Hokage wishes to speak with you and Zabuza as quickly as possible."

It was odd that Bear was now back to being on the Hokage guard platoon. But after what his kids had done, he couldn't blame the government officials for taking a few precautions. What they had done proved that there needed to be more security around the Hokage if they didn't want anything bad happening to the man.

"Sure thing... Uh..." Genma hesitated for a moment, then breathed out and looked at Baki, "Would you mind?"

The man looked at him for a moment as he thought, then shrugged, "I wouldn't mind making them some dinner. Kankuro, come and help me."

Out of all his kids, Genma would have thought _Temari_ would be the one to know how to cook. But he had been known to be wrong before.

"But-"

"Come on, Kankuro, I don't mind helping either." Chouji smiled kindly over at the paint covered boy, then at his teacher, "Would you...?"

The question was left in the air. But Baki quickly answered.

"Sure thing, kid. You know this place better than I do. Now you kids need to relax and get prepared for the second stage." Baki grunted, quickly taking control of the situation.

Genma smiled softly at the childish groans that came from some of the kids, then motioned for Zabuza. "Let's get going."

The man nodded and walked out and Genma was soon to follow, although he stopped right before he finished closing the door. "Baki, if some chunin decide to barge in here, they're allowed to. They don't bite and are basically harmless, but if they start annoying you, just sic Kiba, Ino, and Tenten on them. They'll quickly calm down."

The man gave him a strange look, as if unsure of how to take his words, but soon nodded. And with this assurance Genma smiled and closed the door behind him, then led Zabuza all the way towards the Hokage's office.

..~..~..

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Zabuza and Baki are now part of Genma's friends, no matter what Genma may say. He likes Zabuza, he really does. He just refuses to admit it. Don't forget to review!


	18. Chapter 18

_Chapter 18: How the Chunin Exams Proved to Help the Kids:_ The Chunin Exams were difficult and filled with way too many complications for this to actually be happening. But Genma knew his kids could stay strong and face anything thrown their way with determination and bravery. Honestly, if it were up to him, Genma would keep the kids as safe as possible, never to see the true horrors humans could create. But it wasn't up to him. And the kids needed to learn and grow. No matter how much it hurt.

..~..~..

The reason why the Hokage wanted Genma and Zabuza to visit him was to have a small talk with the both of them. The first half was asking about Zabuza and Haku's ability to adapt to their newest surroundings and how Zabuza enjoyed not being hunted down while under Konoha's supervision. The jaded man grunted nonchalant answers, but they seemed to not insult the elder man because he quickly moved on to the topic he had wanted to truly touch.

"I have reason to believe there is going to be some kind of manifestation during the final stages of the Chunin Exams."

Genma quirked an eyebrow at this and asked the man what he meant. Which made the Hokage explain himself, "Word has reached me of a possible threat to Konoha and plans to attack during the final stage of the Chunin Exams."

Hearing this was a surprise to Genma. Even more so considering that Zabuza was also hearing about this at the same.

Even the Demon of the Mist himself was somewhat taken aback by what was happening. "You sure you want me around to hear about this, Old Man?"

At this, the Hokage nodded. "You are a worthy adversary to have, Zabuza. And you are now loyal to Konoha and all of its people because of the debt that is owed." The man's face was stern and his voice deep, "If you wish to stay with the more than comfortable accommodations we have given you, you will be a helping hand rather than a hindering one in these operations."

Zabuza's eyes were wide in surprise, while Genma's own narrowed.

He knew that Zabuza had done nothing to make them doubt his loyalties... But he had been a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. The only reason he did not have his sword with him at the moment was because it had been taken away when they had arrived at the village. Even though he had been more than cooperative ever since he had gotten to the village, there was still a small chance that he could turn on them.

Some of the kids liked him. Some of the kids didn't trust him. But while Genma did not mind him too much, there was still a bit of distrust because of _who_ he happened to be.

"So..." Zabuza began after a moment of tense silence, glancing over at Genma for one shocked second before looking back at the eldest man in the room. "You want me to what? Play bodyguard?"

For some reason beyond the senbon enthusiast, the question had the man grinning like a Cheshire cat. "I would like you _both_ to play as bodyguards. For me. To stay with me during the final stage of the exam, just to have extra eyes and ears making sure that nothing goes wrong during the proceedings." Then the man turned to Genma, "It is a fine paying job."

Genma wasn't as tight on money as he had been in the past. But the Hokage seemed to enjoy reminding him if his monetary problems at the most random of moments, seemingly rubbing in the fact that he had allowed himself to go without eating just to feed the kids.

"Old man..." Genma breathed out, but soon shook his head and decided to just accept to the job. Trying to talk the man out of his ideas was impossible. And if he actually trusted Zabuza enough to protect him, then there was no use trying to convince him otherwise. "I'm guessing this means you're going to giving him back his sword."

Upon hearing this, Zabuza quirked an eyebrow in interest. And the man merely nodded, only to add, "Just during the final phase of the Chunin Exams. Then it shall be confiscated once more, Genma."

The man couldn't help but roll his eyes at the elder, then turned to look at Zabuza. "What do you say?"

With an apathetic shrug of his shoulders, the larger male crossed his arms over his chest, "Not like I have any other choice. Haku likes your brats. Doing something to get us kicked out would not sit well with him."

But even with the air of disinterest he tried to keep around him, Genma could tell the man's brain was turning and that his interest had been piqued. He'd be able to fight once more, use his sword. He didn't have any reason to _not_ be somewhat gladdened to hear this sudden news.

"Then it has been decided. Return to your apartment, then. And send my regards to the Chunin that are trying to stay away from their work." The Hokage offered a small wave as he moved to return his pipe to its place, only to finish with, "Also, would you be kind enough to remind Hayate that he has a job to do tomorrow and that he cannot stay awake all night?"

In the past, Genma would have been embarrassed about the Hokage knowing that _all_ of the kids under his care were so prone to shirking their duties. But after years of having to deal with them and months of dealing with the genin trying to follow them, he just didn't care.

"Sure thing."

* * *

Sakura had once had beautiful long hair. Not as long as Ino's of course, she would never be able to get hers as long as her friend's. But it had been long enough that it reached a bit lower than the top of her shoulder blades and she had loved it with all of her heart.

But she had cut it off when she was eleven and began to truly take her training with Ebisu seriously. Sasuke had told her long hair wasn't really a good idea if she wanted to continue using fire style attacks. And Ebisu agreed that if she wanted to keep it long, then she would have to tie it up. So she'd tried tying it up into a ponytail like Ino's but ended up hating it. So she decided to cut it to a reasonable length- not as short as Hinata's, of course, but short _enough_. And she hadn't really minded it too much.

Keeping hair just above her shoulders was a lot easier than taking care of a longer length. She didn't have to brush it every single day to keep it nice and she only wound up having to wash it once in a week instead of the old _three_ times.

Her mother had lamented the loss of her locks. But the woman had stopped whining about it once Ebisu had explained the reasons for it and agreed that, if it kept Sakura safe, then she could accept the decision.

In the Forest of Death, Sakura had seen how a girl with long hair had been grabbed harshly by it and forced into the ground. All because her hair was long and the tips had been grabbed by a boy bigger and stronger than her. With this sight stuck in her mind and the terrified genin's screams in her ears, Sakura was extremely grateful to both Sasuke and Ebisu for having convinced her to cut her hair. At least this way she would not risk someone grabbing her once she believed she was safe from them.

The first phase of the Chunin Exams had been interesting. Especially when they found Kotetsu and Izumo standing between them and a fake entrance that wasn't even their destination. If that was what they had looked like as kids, then Sakura could easily admit that they weren't the worst looking children she'd ever seen in her life.

After this, the man Ino insisted as to being one of the biggest pushovers she had ever met in her life had scared the crap out of just about everyone in the examination room. He was a large and burly man that was terrifying. And even though Sakura had seen him before, he was still pretty scary. Although Naruto didn't seem too scared of the heavily scarred man for some reason.

She had never wracked her brain so harshly before. And it proved to be for nothing in the end because the test scores didn't even matter. The proctor just wanted to test their ability to cheat without getting caught. And then Naruto went on a spiel about not giving up as his answer to the last and most daunting question.

They had all managed to pass. By some amazing miracle, all of her friends had managed to pass the first stage of the Chunin Exams and would be going together into the second stage.

As they had walked back to Genma's apartment to tell the man the good news, she and Ino had talked a little bit about the Exams and what they knew about them. Even though Ino didn't know too much, she knew more than Sakura when it came to the kind of things they may encounter as part of the exams because of her father. And after they had spoken a bit about probable challenges, Ino had made Sakura promise that, if it ever came down to having to choose between their teams or their friendships, they would both have to make the best decision possible. No hesitating. Just deciding.

Sakura had no idea what Ino might have meant with this. Was the blonde telling her that their friendship came first? Or that their teams did?

But she had not been able to ask the blonde what exactly she wanted them both to do if the time ever came during the exams. When they reached Genma's apartment, they all drifted off towards their own teams to be able to chat and plan. And Sakura had been pulled away by Sasuke asking her if she had all of her supplies ready for a fight, he wanted to be prepared for anything for the second stage.

~/~

Seeing that girl getting her hair pulled and then get brutally attacked on one of their first days in the Forest of Death had made Sakura grateful to having shorter hair. But never had she been any more grateful than when that snake like _monster_ tried to grab at her, fingers missing by a mere _centimeter_.

If her hair had been any longer, she would have been grabbed. But it hadn't been. And because of that she and Sasuke had been able to team up to great a fireball large enough to knock the monster down for a few precious seconds.

Precious seconds that allowed for Naruto to create an innumerable amount of clones that then piled on top of the snake humanoid to allow them to escape.

Sakura had never been a big fan of the Forest of Death. But aside from the fact that her hair was now short, she was also grateful for Naruto's love for the place. Because of that love they were able to go through secret passages that were just about invisible if one didn't know where they were to be able to get away.

They hadn't been left without any injuries. She and Sasuke sported bruises around their necks from where the snake monster had wrapped around them to taunt Naruto with. And the blonde himself had an arm broken, having been foolish enough to try a desperate attack to make the man let them go.

As they panted inside of a dark hole underground, Sakura felt tears welling up in her eyes. First she'd seen that girl with the long hair getting attacked... Now she had almost been killed by an insane monster...

She wasn't cut out for this...

"Sakura?"

Sasuke's voice broke through her cloudy mind like a ray of sunlight, the only thing that could comfort her.

She didn't speak as she looked over at him, desperately trying to keep her tears from spilling. But then she noticed that he had barely visible tear tracks trailing down his cheeks.

"We almost died. It's okay to cry."

And then she felt Naruto's hand on her shoulder, offering warmth and strength. Foolish Naruto... So dumb... So brave... If it hadn't been for him, she and Sasuke would be dead at this point.

"We can all cry. Really. Farmer man says it's okay to be weak sometimes as long as we're strong when it counts."

And so Sakura wrapped one arm around the foolish blonde and another around the caring Uchiha, bringing them in so she could cry and hold them, make sure they were still alive and with them.

* * *

None of them had ever seen such brutality in their lives. Team 8 might have seen a lot over their short shinobi careers... But they had no idea that any human being could be so horribly depraved...

"Shh..." Kiba covered up Akamaru's muzzle as the dog began to whine all the while his body shivered in fear.

"Th-they a-a-already w-won..." Hinata herself was trembling like the pup, terror showing in her wide pale eyes.

"Why do they continue to attack?" Shino questioned in disgust, showing no signs of being affected by the sight before him other than his tone of voice.

Kiba didn't have an answer for the Aburame. He had no explanations for himself, even. All he knew was that he was seeing three genin from the new village, Otogakure, beating up and attacking in such a savage manner that it was hard to believe they were _kids_.

They had already gotten the scroll they needed. They were just brutalizing the team from the Hidden Waterfall for kicks.

What kind of monster did that?

"Just stay quiet."

Kiba turned to look at Shino with widened eyes, then narrowed them, "We have to help them."

"Not at all." Shino answered back without any intonations now in his voice... He was playing the heartless card on purpose. Kiba knew that this tone was forced. "We already have both our scrolls. And if they are not able to fight back, then they cannot become chunin."

"B-b-b-"

Hinata was too terrified to speak up. But Kiba wasn't. "The hell, Aburame?" He growled, keeping his voice a whisper just in case the bastards they were seeing were keeping their attention on their surroundings as they beat those kids into bloody pulps. "They need help!"

"This test is to prove the efficiency of teams." Shino crossed his arms then shifted his body so his back was resting against the foliage they were hiding behind. "They are not a good unit if they cannot protect themselves. Now we will wait until they leave, then we can continue on our way."

"No fuckin-"

"We might get killed if we try and save them."

Hinata's whisper was sudden and quick, leaving Kiba shocked that it had come from her. Then he looked over at the Hyuga, wondering if it really had been _her_ to say it. Because it couldn't have been. She couldn't be agreeing with the bug jerk. She couldn't be agreeing with letting a team of genin die just to save their own hides. It wasn't her!

"Exactly." Shino breathed out heavily. "Get comfortable and stay quiet."

Kiba refused to sit down while he heard the genin from Waterfall screaming for mercy. Stubbornly, he kept his eyes trained on them and watched the attack as it degenerated into such unbelievable brutality that he refused to believe these people were human. He memorized the youngest girl's face until it was burned into his mind, the way she screamed at the bastards to stop killing her friends while she was held back by the least human-like of the Sound team.

"K-Ki-"

"Don't talk to me."

He kept his gaze locked on the girl with the mint green hair as tears streamed down her cheeks and her voice was rendered useless from the way she screamed herself raw.

* * *

Once the bastards left, Kiba rushed to the fallen genin and did his best to heal them on his own. He refused to accept any of Hinata's help as he wrapped up the stout boy's wounds in a crude manner- he had seen this kid. He'd cracked a bad joke about these exams being like mothers or aunts or something and it had been so bad that Kiba had laughed.

The girl with the mint green hair was knocked unconscious. She had been allowed to walk away with the least amount of injuries, even though Kiba knew her arms and some ribs were broken. As he did what he could, Kiba swore he saw one of her eyes open. But when he finished and checked, both her eyes were closed and she was still as unconscious as she had been when he'd started.

After he'd finished, Hinata rushed up to do what she could. She tried to apologize, but Kiba refused to listen to him.

 _They had been cowards_.

Shino did nothing.

The bastard.

* * *

(Shino didn't tell his teammates but he _did_ do something. He sent one of his bugs after Anko and led her and Tonbo to the fallen teenagers so they could be helped. But he didn't tell Kiba. The other boy was much too angered with their decisions to listen to reason. He'd tell him later on, though. He would make sure of it.)

* * *

They had all managed to pass the Chunin Exams' second phase. All of Genma's kids stood in the tower after having acquired the scrolls they needed to pass onto the third stage.

They were all tired. Some more scared than others. A few much too traumatized by the things they had seen.

Then they were told that before they were allowed to return to their homes, they would have to fight each other to qualify for the final round.

Forced up onto stands to watch exhausted genin fighting one another, all of Konoha's teams had seemed changed.

Their teachers all knew it was odd that they hadn't gravitated over to one another to compare notes while the first contestants were chosen. But immediately they knew the reason why.

The Forest of Death had done its job.

* * *

Hayate watched Sasuke's body as he fought and couldn't help but feel proud at how far the Uchiha had come from the days after the Uchiha massacre.

He wasn't as angry or scared as before. He still held those two emotions within him, but they were pushed to the back of his being because of the loving and forceful hand his friends used.

Fighting Yoroi had not been easy for him. Not being able to use chakra would make any shinobi falter, no matter how great. But the kid took it all like a champ and used amazing taijutsu moves that even Kakashi seemed to be proud of.

He was proud to call Sasuke the first winner of the preliminary rounds.

~/~

The following fight had Hayate wondering just why Kotetsu insisted on Shino being an adorable little shit.

Personally, the Aburame Clan had always freaked him out. He wasn't a fan of bugs.

Shino proved his intelligence and strategic mind during the fight, managing to outsmart a much too confident opponent.

The process was crude and violent. But the results were worthwhile. The Aburame won, beating the first of the Otogakure genin to participate in this round.

Although, if he was being honest, the thing that impacted Hayate the most about this victory wasn't the Aburame's methods. It was a typical clan approach: find a problem, fix it. No, what hit Hayate hard was the fact that when he looked up at the stands to look at the rest of the genin, he found Kiba smiling like a madman and Hinata with a glint of pride in her eyes that had no right to be there.

He'd need to have a talk with Kotetsu later on to find out just what, exactly, was cute about these budding psychopaths.

~/~

The following match was between a Konoha nin he did not know and a Sand nin he'd seen in Genma's apartment a couple of times before.

It was quick, brutal, and made Hayate wonder if a world in which kids were brutally hurting one another was a world worth living in.

Then he remembered the kinds of things _he_ had done at that age and decided that these acts were quite literal child's play. He'd done _much_ worse at a much younger age.

This was just their truth.

~/~

He had stepped aside to allow Ibiki to mediate Sakura's match. Even though he believed he could do his job without letting his emotions get in the way, he didn't want to risk it.

Sakura had grown on him after years of crushing on him. She was a kid that had latched onto his heart and refused to let go. And the fact that it was _Ino_ she was fighting, another girl that had burrowed her way into his life, didn't help at all. But Ibiki had known that this might happen and had stayed nearby to mediate if Hayate decided he wasn't fit for the job.

And as the two girls had fought, Hayate knew he had made the correct decision.

Ino's risk to make Sakura forfeit... Sakura's own fire style jutsu that threatened to leave the blonde with many dangerous burns... Ino's harsh insults that were meant to cut... Sakura's harsh fists that were meant to bruise... Both girls were in it to win. And he had thought of jumping in the moment Sakura had raised her hand, declaring Ino the winner.

But Ibiki had stayed his pace. And Sakura had managed to push Ino out of her mind and create a fire wall that turned into four that surrounded the Yamanaka.

Ino didn't forfeit. She refused to give up. But after a few minutes of not a single sound from the girl, Sakura released the jutsu and allowed the blonde's unconscious body to be found.

Her smile was proud and tired and deserved to be just that. She had just managed to join Sasuke on the road of becoming Chunin.

~/~

Tenten never stood a chance against the fan user.

It was a shame that Maen had lost the bet. He'd really regret agreeing to Tonbo's rules later when he found out.

~/~

Shikamaru's match against the Sound ninja was interesting. For a moment, he actually looked like he might be in trouble. Only for his Nara intelligence to get him a victory.

Those Nara members were too damned smart.

~/~

Naruto and Kiba... That match had almost gotten out of control. What had started off as an amicable spur built up into an explosive trading of blows that surprised the people that knew just how good the friends could be.

Kiba was angry over something. Naruto refused to give up. And the two good friends decided to throw all caution to the wind in what almost devolved into a forbidden jutsu match. Their clashing dispositions caused them to became dangers to each other.

Naruto's shadow clones versus Kiba's... Well, Hayate wasn't sure. The kid wasn't allowed to finish his summoning. The second Kurenai saw just what the hand signs Kiba was making were for, the woman jumped down and interrupted the match. She grabbed Kiba by both his wrists harshly, leaving everyone in the room shocked that she had dared get in the way.

"As Kiba Inuzuka's teacher, I say that he has finished his time in the Chunin Exams. Naruto wins."

"What!? Kurenai Sensei-"

But they both disappeared quickly, taken away by Kurenai in a speedy gust.

Hayate quirked an eyebrow over at Ibiki who merely nodded and motioned for the panting Naruto to dispel his clones.

"Guess we have a winner then..."

~/~

As if suddenly having a teacher step in to stop a fight hadn't made this round of fighting interesting enough, the next two contestants wound up being Hinata and Neji.

Sometimes, life was just unfair.

But both Hyuga kids stepped up to the ring with confidence and determination clear in their body language.

"Don't take it easy on me, Neji-nii-san."

"Of course, Lady Hinata. Do not be afraid of hurting me."

The consequent clashing of fists was spectacular. Like a deadly dance, both Hyugas fought in their clan's unique and (to his eyes) beautiful technique. They seemed to have been evenly matched to Hayate's eyes in the beginning. But suddenly Hinata jumped away with a huff of irritation and glared at her cousin.

 _Hinata glared at Neji_.

This day had just been full of surprises.

"I am not a ch-child, Neji-nii-san!" She growled, "Fight me like a real e-enemy!"

Neji scowled, apparently bothered by this. Then he sighed heavily and nodded, "If you wish."

Hinata showed great determination and courage as she faced her cousin as he fought to win. She refused to give up, even when she had been beaten into the ground. But Hayate could tell it hurt Neji to have to continue hitting her even when the winner of the match was so clear.

So he stepped in and stopped before Hinata injured herself too badly.

Neji visibly relaxed with this and while many might think it was because of his victory, Hayate knew it was because he would not have to continue hurting his cherished cousin.

~/~

Rock Lee's match against Gaara had been mostly one-sided. Hayate hated the fact that the kid that had trained his ass off to get to where he was ended up facing such a powerful foe, but was allowed some reprieve in knowing that Gaara didn't use any brutal tactics like his brother or Shino had shown.

He wrapped Lee up in a sand cocoon for a few minutes, then let it fall to reveal the unconscious form of the green clad genin.

A simple and uneventful match. A welcome change from the explosive fights they had just seen before from the Leaf candidates.

~/~

And the last match was (unfortunately) quick.

Dosu Kinuta wound up being the only member of his team to pass into the final rounds. Much like Neji, Shino, and Shikamaru. Oddly enough, all of Team 7 had passed. Just like Team Baki.

Hayate was grateful that all of the fighting had ended, though, and he would be able to finally get some sleep.

It's a shame he'd have to explain how everything had gone down for the friends that would refuse to believe that their picks for winning had lost.

* * *

They had a whole month to train and get stronger.

The first week of that month found Genma's apartment filled to the brim with people. After having finished up with the second phase of the Exams, most of the kids just wanted to relax a bit to be able to continue with their lives.

Although... There was one kid that didn't show his face during that week.

Even though Shino and Hinata appeared every now and then to spend time with their friends, not once had Genma seen Kiba. The kid hadn't even tried to wrestle his way into his home through the boys' bedroom, causing a racket that would make Zabuza growl about cutting his and the kids up as revenge.

Ino and Sakura weren't talking to each other either. And, really, he couldn't blame them. From what Hayate had told him, Ino had said some pretty mean things to get Sakura to fight. But he knew, for a fact, that the blonde had said those things to get Sakura to give it her all.

Before the insults, Sakura had been shy with her attacks, seemingly unsure if she should fight her friend. But after she'd given it her all, just like Ino most probably had wanted her to do.

A fight wasn't worth fighting if one of the participants was pulling their punches.

He didn't hear anything from Kurenai during that first week either. Usually she'd at least drop by once or twice during the week so they could chat and catch up on life while the kids ran amok and drove the chunin insane. But he hadn't seen hide nor hair from her.

* * *

When Jiraiya chose to finally come around to take some kind of responsibility over Naruto, Genma couldn't help but feel extremely angered towards the man.

When the village had lost Minato, they _both_ had lost someone important to them. Sure, Minato had not been his genin squad's teacher; that had been Chouza. But that didn't mean that his bond with the Namikaze had been any less. And Jiraiya had, in his eyes, chosen the coward's way out.

When things got rough, the man had left the village. Just like the rest of his lousy teammates.

The great Sannin were one of the biggest disappointments Konoha had ever produced in Genma's eyes.

He'd heard the man before he'd seen him.

As he returned home from yet another tough day at T&I, all Genma had wanted was to get home, hear all about Team 7's joint training with Kakashi and Ebisu, maybe listen to Zabuza grouch a bit about having to deal with so many hyperactive brats, and eat a warm dinner.

What he got was Zabuza glaring at him as he pushed him into the apartment, telling him to get rid of the pervert before he did something drastic.

At first he'd been confused about what the man might mean. But then he had heard Jiraiya's unmistakable voice, louder and more obnoxious than what he'd remembered it could be, and Genma had forgotten all about wanting a relaxing evening in.

"What's going on here?"

In his living room, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Haku sat on his couch. They were all watching Jiraiya in intrigue, the man moving from one side of the room to another as he retold one of his many adventures. But when Genma walked in and interrupted the tale, they all turned to him.

The kids were all glad to see him, most probably because they would get dinner now. The man just smiled like a doofus... He had no right to seem so carefree.

"Ah, Shiranui-kun! You've grown up."

Genma glared at him as his teeth clinked harshly against his senbon, then he grunted, "What are you doing in my apartment?"

If Jiraiya noticed how cold the other man was being, he didn't react to it. Instead he kept up a pleasant disposition, "Young Naruto told me that you make some of the best food in the village. And after much negotiating, that is the last price he must pay for me to teach him."

For a second, Genma was so angry that he wasn't able to _breathe_.

The bastard... He abandoned the village, abandoned _Naruto_ , and now he thought he could waltz back in and ask him for _food_?

Minato had been a fool. This man wasn't great. He was a _pariah_.

"Not happening." He growled, then looked at the kids. "All of you, into the boys' room."

Naruto immediately wanted to argue. But Haku hushed him and stood up, pulling him behind him before the blonde could say anything that would anger Genma further. Sasuke and Sakura looked at Genma with shock and confusion clear on their faces before they too followed, leaving Genma with only Jiraiya in the living room. Zabuza was skulking around the doorway still.

Jiraiya's face morphed into one of confusion before he sobered up and became serious, losing any kind of relaxed features. "Genma-"

"I don't want to hear it." The man interrupted, "Naruto's under my care now. You had your chance. I don't want you anywhere _near_ him."

"It's for his own good." The white haired man crossed his arms over his chest with a heavy frown on his face. "Minato would-"

"Don't tell me what Minato would have liked!" Genma suddenly shouted, losing control of his temper. "You left the village. You left _him_. And I refuse to let you fill his head up with any sort of crazy delusions you've made yourself believe!"

As part of the Hokage Protection Squad, Genma had heard a few of Jiraiya's worries. Some that had sounded believable. Others that had been so farfetched, Genma still couldn't believe a man as intelligent and cultured as him believed them.

"He needs to be able to protect himself." Jiraiya tried to explain himself, and Genma allowed him to speak. Not because he wanted to hear it. But because he was thinking up of the least violent way to get the man away from his kids and his home. "I can teach him everything he needs to know. And with the kinds of things that are going on in the world, he needs all the help he can get."

"He already has enough of that." Genma hissed, then stepped forward to place himself directly in the taller man's personal space. "Do you know what the villagers did to him after you left? What they would have done if the Hokage hadn't watched out for him?"

The man's lips pressed into an even grimmer frown. He did not answer. And that was all that Genma needed.

"I want you to leave my home right now. Sannin or not, I'm still the owner of this apartment and I'll kick your ass if you don't do as I say."

Behind him he heard Zabuza walk up to them. And when he looked over his shoulder, Genma found that Zabuza stood behind him with his arms crossed, presenting an imposing image.

Jiraiya looked at Zabuza for a moment before breathing out, "He needs-"

"I think I know what Naruto needs." Genma didn't want to hear Jiraiya speak anymore. "I've been taking care of him for just about all of his life now."

Then Zabuza spoke up, "I believe your company is not wanted here, Toad."

"I believe so too." Jiraiya's eyes never strayed from Genma's as he said this, then he finally took his leave.

Once the door had closed behind him, Genma released a breath of air he didn't know he had held. For a second he just stood there, reliving the conversation he had just had over and over again.

He knew this would cause some trouble with Naruto... The kid grew attached way too quickly... But Genma refused to let Jiraiya into his life. Just like him, the man had abandoned Naruto as a child. But unlike him, he hadn't come to his senses and helped the kid when he'd actually needed it.

Naruto had dozens of shinobi around him that were willing to teach him if he asked them. He didn't need Jiraiya.

"You okay?"

Zabuza's voice was uncharacteristically gentle when he spoke up, and it made Genma smile. With this smile he noticed just how tightly he had been biting onto his senbon and winced. His mouth would be hurting later on because of that.

"Yeah... Thanks." He breathed out, then turned to the other man. He knew that he would undoubtedly have some questions. Just like the kids. But right now all Genma wanted was to relax a little bit. "Dinner?"

For a moment, Zabuza didn't say anything. He just looked at Genma, face much too unreadable because of the mask he'd managed to snag from Kakashi a couple of weeks ago. But then he nodded and began to walk over to the couch, then threw himself down on it.

"Cook for you for once. We'll eat anything you like."

The answer had Genma smiling softly, even with the knot that was beginning to form in his stomach.

It was nice to know that Zabuza could grow soft spots.

* * *

During the second week after the second phase of the Exams, Genma finally found out where it was that Kiba had gone. And why Kurenai hadn't shown up in a while.

One morning as he tried to keep Kotetsu from teaching curse words from Hanabi (the girl was free from school that Monday and Hiashi had left her with Genma, knowing that Ibiki would give him this day off as well) and wash the plates from an impromptu sleepover thrown by Team 7 and Haku, both Kurenai and Kiba entered his home without knocking.

Because of their absence, Genma would have thought that when he'd see them again, they would seem different. But they both seemed the same, just with bags underneath their eyes.

"Kiba-kun!" Hanabi jumped down from her chair with a broad smile as she ran up to the Inuzuka, only to jump into his arms when he opened them.

She liked Kiba a lot. Iwashi said it was because he was like another cool brother to look up to. Kurenai believed it was because she had a small crush on him. And Genma was just happy that when Hinata or Shino weren't anywhere to be found, Hanabi was the one to keep Kiba from being too stupid.

"Hey, Hanabi-chan!" He spun her around for a moment before setting her down to ruffle her hair. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?" Then he looked up at the couch to find Kotetsu grinning and waving at him, "And shouldn't you be at work?"

"Day off, dude." Kotetsu answered as he stopped waving to cross his arms behind his head and lean on them. "Where have you two been? Haven't seen you recently."

The look that came onto Kiba's face was one Genma knew well. It was his 'I did something really bad and don't want to admit to it' face.

"We've been training." Kurenai answered after a few seconds of his silence, then asked, "Kotetsu, would you mind taking Hanabi down to the park? I am sure she wants to get some fresh air with you."

"But I-" Kotetsu was about to tell her no when Genma spit his senbon over at him. And the spiky haired man jumped when the metal lodged itself into the wall beside him, then quickly ran to scoop Hanabi up. "You got it!"

He'd have to hear a scolding from Shino for that later. But right now, Genma wanted to know just what was up with Kiba and Kurenai.

Once the door had shut behind Kotetsu and Hanabi, Genma turned to them both and asked, "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah." Kurenai answered with a heavy sigh as she walked up to the kitchen, only to sit at the counter.

Genma continued to wash the plates as Kiba accommodated himself beside the woman, silently letting them know that he would listen to them.

Kiba had always been a rather talkative person. Even when he felt bad, he spoke. So hearing him so silent now scared the man. But, luckily enough, his nature soon showed itself once more.

"Kurenai Sensei tells me that you and your team almost died during your Chunin Exams." Kiba muttered, making Genma freeze for a moment. But he didn't stop to watch the man's reaction and instead continued. "We didn't almost die. But I saw three kids getting beaten to death by the kids from Sound."

Genma quirked an eyebrow over at Kurenai at this, completely confused as to why he was telling him this. The woman just smiled sadly and explained, "During his fight with Naruto, Kiba was angry and almost committed a fatal mistake. The reason why you have not seen either of us is because we have been training day and night to get Kiba to learn and improve."

Kiba sighed and hung his head, "When Naruto, Tenten, and I got our hand on the Scroll of Seals, I took pictures of some of the jutsu that sounded cool and wouldn't kill me instantly... One of them was a summoning jutsu. During my fight with Naruto, I was going to use it when Kurenai Sensei stopped me."

Quite frankly, Genma wanted to know the whole story in more depth. Wanted to understand the fractured stories they were each telling. But he smiled softly and put down the cup he had been washing so he could dry his hands. Then he walked up to Kiba and hugged him, immediately getting the kid to hug him back.

"I could have kill him..." Kiba whispered, which made Genma tighten his grip on the kid.

"But Kurenai was there to stop you. And now you know better than to use that jutsu."

"Well, not really."

Kurenai's words made Genma look at her in confusion. Then she shrugged, "Kid already signed that contract. He can summon whenever he wants. The reason why we were so busy last week was because of intense training to make Kiba strong enough to be able to summon them without losing control."

With a small frown, Genma didn't let go of his grip on the kid. He wasn't trembling, but he wasn't letting go either. And as long as Kiba needed him to hug him, Genma would stay. "You're not making any sense."

"I'll explain everything in more detail over drinks. But for that;" The woman then shifted her gaze so she was looking on the Inuzuka in his arms, "You know what you need to do, Kiba."

"Yeah..." His voice was muffled by Genma's chest, making his heart suddenly wrench at the memory of a much younger Kiba doing the exact same thing after having accidentally destroyed his sister's homework and having sought comfort from him. "I'll go find them in a sec..."

A sec wound up being ten minutes, but Genma didn't really mind. Because even though Kiba left the apartment with a deep frown, he left it without the guilty look within his eyes.

~/~

Kurenai then explained everything that had happened. Just what the summons contract entailed, the creatures that were released and the power they brought, and how Kiba could have gotten Naruto and himself killed during the Exams if he'd managed to call them successfully.

She had spent the last week teaching him everything he needed to know about the creatures to keep them under control. And then she'd begun to help him hone his control on his chakra, as well as learning new techniques.

Kiba's learning had suddenly taken a new curve that Kurenai wasn't sure if she was able to fulfill. She also needed to spend time with Shino to prepare him for the Chunin Exams and Hinata to get her stronger. Her team was good, but was proving that their needs might be too great for her to truly get them to where she knew they could get.

Oh, and Kiba apparently knew the basics of more than just _one_ forbidden techniques. All which he'd managed to snag from the Scroll of Seals without anyone even wondering about. And then he'd managed to sign a contract with _no one_ wondering about it. Even though they had all seen the odd smoke coming from the Inuzuka Compound a couple of months ago.

How these kids were able to get into these kinds of situations, Genma would never know or understand.

~/~

But at least when Kiba returned to the apartment, he did so with a smile. Naruto followed in after him, laughing haughtily. And then Sakura and (much to Genma's surprise) Ino walked in, arms locked together as they whispered about something or another.

So both of the major worries he'd suffered because of the Chunin Exams had managed to resolve themselves... That was good. Now all he had to worry about was keeping Jiraiya the hell away from Naruto.

A feat that, from what he'd heard from a little bird named Kotetsu, would be more difficult than it should be.

If only Naruto wasn't so easily impressed by showy jutsu...

..~..~..

No matter what he may say, Genma really does love his kids... He just doesn't like the way they make him care so much.

I know the wait was long, but at least I'm continuing with the story! I'm planning a couple more chapters to complete it. Then I'll write a sequel dealing with Shippuden age. Or not. It's still all up in the air at this point.

Please review! Make me smile like I've (hopefully) made you smile!


	19. Chapter 19

_Chapter 19: The Way in Which Genma Almost Lost Everything:_ The aftermath of the Chunin Exams left many devastated. Genma lost his home. The kids' friendship with the Sand Siblings was fractured. And they had come an _inch_ from losing their Hokage. But just as tragedy had struck, miracles had rained down on them as well. None of the kids had been killed. Orochimaru had not won. The Hidden Leaf had _survived_. And even with everything that had been lost, all of this proved to be enough to keep Genma and his kids still hoping.

..~..~..

Hayate came to him in the middle of the night in a bloody haze. His whole body was covered in the crimson liquid. And he carried a body much larger than his own, one that belonged to a person Genma had come to know because of the kids.

"Genma! Please, help me!"

Hayate's words were whispered harshly so as to not wake the rest of his apartment's inhabitants. And Genma knew that if they weren't careful, one of the kids would wake up to find Baki a bloodied mess in his living room.

The senbon enthusiast snapped into action without any kind of difficulty. Ignoring the fact that he would be getting blood on the pajama set given to him a year ago by Ino, the man took on half of Baki's weight and helped Hayate lay him down on his floor. And without waiting for any kind of explanation, he began to work on healing as many wounds as he could on his chest, all the while Hayate dealt with the injuries on his legs.

For what felt like an eternity, all Genma heard was Baki's labored breathing, Hayate's shaky grunts, and his own deep breaths. Sometimes the tense symphony was broken by a whimper of pain from the injured man, but he mostly kept quiet as he focused on _breathing_.

The wounds the man had suffered were some that Genma had seen on the field before. They were the kinds of cuts one suffered when attacked by a proficient sword wielder. And it didn't take a genius to know that if Hayate had been the one to bring the man here, with the male being one of the best swordsmen to ever come from Konoha, then it was very likely that it had been Hayate himself to cause these serious injuries.

The fact that the young man was on the _edge_ of a panic attack certainly did not help Genma think about any kind of innocence in this deal.

But Genma didn't ask a single thing until Baki was stable and bandaged up with only a few minor cuts left to heal on their own. Instead he worked on the man, pumping as much chakra into the man as he dared to help him heal.

As part of the Hokage's protection squad, he'd been various different types of medical jutsu to be able to aid fallen comrades in battle. And just like with his knowledge in poisons, Genma usually kept quiet about his knowledge in this kind jutsu. He didn't really keep it secret, but he didn't boast about it either. Although, after years of having to deal with emergencies brought about by brash, childish impulses, Genma knew that his medical knowledge was a secret that was more known than hidden.

Once he had finished wrapping the last of the bandages around Baki's arms, Genma allowed himself a small breath of relief as he leaned back on his haunches. And when he looked over at the clock on his wall, it was to find that he and Hayate had worked on the man for a good three hours.

"Is... Will he be okay?"

Hayate's voice was soft and timid, reminding Genma of a time long past when this man was barely a hurting teenager. When they had met, Hayate had just been Iwashi's quiet friend that didn't really say much. And usually, when he had spoken up in the past, it was with an unsure voice that threatened to quiver.

Right now, Genma did not see the strong ANBU operative he knew Hayate was. Right now, all Genma could see was a frightened boy.

"Yeah." The older male nodded as he answered, then pushed himself up to stand, "He'll be okay. But he'll need a lot of rest."

Hayate scrambled to get up as well, eyes wide as they never left Genma's body. And the man had to stop himself from smiling fondly, for it had been a long time since one of the older kids had looked so much like the younger ones.

Taking one last look at Baki, Genma decided that he needed to understand just what in the world had happened. Hayate was not the kind to get into petty fights. So he wouldn't have done anything to Baki unless he had truly had a reason.

"Care to tell me what happened to end up with Baki so hurt?"

Hayate stood uncomfortably and coughed once before he answered, "You know about the rumors circling around about an invasion in the Leaf? Well I happened to hear him planning a joined attack with the Sound. So I attacked him as soon as I could to stop him from passing a message to his students."

Genma felt all of the air taken away from him at hearing this. Then he looked down at Baki in disbelief, for he found it too unbelievable to think that this man was involved in an invasion of Konoha. In _any_ way.

"What?!" He just about shouted, "Then he's not supposed to be here! You were supposed to have taken him to T&I-"

"Let me finish, will you?" Hayate shouted back, "He's not a traitor! He's the reason why _we_ know that we're going to get attacked!"

"He's..." Genma breathed out, body suddenly losing all of the tension within it. "He's a double agent?"

"I found out much too late..." The younger male breathed out, then began to move to throw himself on the couch Genma had been using to sleep. "I attacked before he could tell me what happened. And once I'd finally stopped to listen, it was already too late."

Once more his voice began to quiver, but this time, his eyes watered as well. And Genma couldn't help but shake his head softly at the younger man.

"Get some rest, kid." He ordered softly as he walked over to him, then began to push him down onto the couch by his shoulders. "You're more coherent once you've slept."

The younger male coughed twice as he just allowed Genma to set him down. And once he closed his eyes, the man grabbed the blanket he had thrown onto the floor during the initial rush of confusion and threw it over him.

~/~

"The hell are you doing sleeping up here?"

Genma received a very kind wake up call, courtesy of an extremely cheery Zabuza.

The shorter male groaned at the rough shove to his shoulder but refused to open his eyes. He was tired and just wanted to get a bit more sleep before he had to wake up and deal with reality.

Hayate had almost killed Baki. Baki, of the Hidden Sand, had been attacked by Hayate for being a spy that worked for their enemies. Their enemies were, apparently, the Hidden Sound. And, as if this wasn't confusing enough, Baki was _actually_ a double agent trying to help Konoha.

"Get off your ass, Shiranui." Zabuza grunted in that cheery voice only he was capable of, then Genma felt himself being shoved once more.

"Let me sleep..." He didn't care if he sounded like Naruto, he needed his sleep before he faced the world. And even if he got enough sleep, he'd need some of that really good coffee Ibiki kept him stocked up on.

There was a moment of silence in which Zabuza left him alone. But then Genma found himself being grabbed and thrown over a sturdy shoulder, then carried off and away from the counter he had decided to use as a makeshift bed.

"Need my sleep..."

"I am aware of that, dumbass. Shut up."

Even though there was still a bite to the man's voice, Zabuza didn't sound as annoyed as when he'd first spoken up. And, quite frankly, Genma was so tired that he didn't really care about what might be up with him. So he just allowed the larger man to carry him to wherever it was he wanted to go as long as it allowed him to get some much needed rest.

Faintly, he felt himself being laid down on a soft and comfortable surface. Then something being pulled over him before he heard footsteps going away from him. But Genma was so tired that he didn't think too much about where he might be. Instead he cuddled into the soft surface beneath him, releasing a happy sigh as he allowed sleep to come over him once more.

~/~

When Genma woke up, it was to find himself in his bed. Which really confused him for a moment before he remembered the odd and extremely unbelievable conversation he'd had with Zabuza after having fallen asleep on the counter.

That couldn't have happened... Right? It wasn't as if Zabuza would actually care enough about him to give up his bed... Right?

But he woke up on _his_ bed. The same bed Zabuza had been using because of how large he was.

"Weird night..." Genma murmured to himself as he blinked away any traces of tiredness that tried to pull him back into sleep, then sniffed at the air.

He could smell things being cooked. That barely ever happened unless one of the kids had gotten into some kind of trouble and were going to ask Genma for help or asylum from their parents.

Without stopping to clean himself up or even changed out of his clothes- he _may_ have forgotten about all of the blood that now decorated the white and blue garments-, the senbon enthusiast made his way towards his kitchen.

Baki had been moved from the floor where he had been left over to the table and sat with Haku beside him. The young ninja was asking him questions as he looked intently at the man's face, most probably looking for signs of possible concussion. And at this Genma winced slightly, feeling kind of bad for not having checked that out himself before he'd collapsed.

Hayate was still sleeping on the couch and looked the same as when Genma had left him. It seemed that he hadn't moved even an _inch_ as he had slept.

Zabuza stood in the kitchen with Sasuke and Naruto bustling around him. Apparently, all three of them were preparing the breakfast that smelled so delicious. But when Genma walked into the common area, all of the ninja in his apartment; aside from the still sleeping Hayate; stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.

The silence that suddenly fell over his apartment was so much that he was sure that if they allowed a senbon to drop, they would hear it clink against his floor. But before he could try and make a comment on this to break the tense atmosphere, Sasuke and Naruto were running out of the kitchen and towards him. Their eyes were wide and alarmed and made Genma scold himself for not having changed out of his bloodied clothes.

"Farmer man! What happened to you? Did you get hurt? Is that why Baki Sensei is hurt too?!" Naruto's questions were loud and rapid, the boy barely allowed himself a second to breathe before he was asking something new.

Sasuke, on the other hand, busied himself by grabbing Genma's arm and looking it over for injuries. Then, once he was pleased with the results, he repeated the motion with the other arm. And he continued in that fashion until he went for the legs by trying to pull down Genma's pants, and that's when the man put a stop to both of their unique ways of showing their worry.

"I'm fine, you two." Genma offered them both a small smile as he slapped Sasuke's hands away, then motioned to the bloodied clothes, "Unfortunately, this is all Baki's."

From inside the kitchen, Genma knew Zabuza was listening in on them. Just like he knew Baki and Haku were both paying complete attention to him.

"So..." Sasuke muttered with his eyes narrowed, then pointed at Hayate, "The reason _he's_ here is because he has something to do with this, right?"

Naruto blinked at Sasuke in curiosity, then questioned, "What do you think happened, Sasuke?"

"Baki got into some kind of fight." Sasuke began to answer before Genma could interrupt, then continued with such sureness in his voice that the man couldn't really find it within himself to stop it.

What was he supposed to tell them? That _Hayate_ had been the one to harm Baki? And that the reason why the man wasn't dead now was simply because he was a double agent?

No... He couldn't let them know any of this... He needed to make sense of everything that was happening before he had the kids learn about it.

"And Hayate saved him. And because it was so late at night and he was worried of getting in trouble with his superiors, Hayate decided to bring Baki to Genma to get fixed up rather than the hospital."

"Wow..." Naruto gasped as he turned to the only injured man in the room, "Is that true, Baki Sensei?"

There was a flash of doubt and fear in Baki's eyes for a _second_ before the man composed his face and nodded solemnly. "Last night was not one of my proudest moments."

"Alright, enough mystery solving, brats." Zabuza cleared his throat from inside the kitchen as he motioned towards the various pots and pans laid out on the counter.

A counter which should have had _some_ kind of trace of blood, seeing how Genma had used it as his bed immediately after having finished up with Baki. The thought of taking a bath had never even crossed his mind after the stressful emergency services. But now that Genma looked at it, there was nothing that could even _hint_ as to the mess of blood that should have been there.

And when the man looked down at the floor where they had worked on Baki, Genma found that it was in the same state as the counter.

"Finish your old man's breakfast."

Zabuza's dark eyes met Genma's own for a few seconds after he'd commanded Sasuke and Naruto to help him finish breakfast. And from those few seconds, Genma knew everything he needed to know about his odd wake up.

Zabuza had carried him to his bed in the middle of the night after having seen the state they had all been left in. Baki, in his injured state, had to have been unconscious for quite the while, so he'd set Haku to check over him and make sure there were no mental repercussions. And knowing that if the kids woke up to the bloody scene that the apartment had been left they would end up terrified, he'd most probably cleaned all of the blood up.

If anyone in his past had ever told him he'd be grateful about having an ex-Swordsman of the Mist living with him, Genma would have laughed in their face and asked how much alcohol they had consumed. But right now all he truly felt for the man was appreciation.

* * *

Baki's attack was explained as a drunken mishap that came from miscommunication and flared tempers. The man's assailants had fled Konoha after leaving him wounded. And the only reason they weren't being hunted down was because neither Hayate or Baki had been able to get a good look at them.

The only people that knew the truth of the attack were the three that had shared a bloody and tense moment in Genma's apartment on the night of the attack, the Hokage, and Zabuza. No one else knew the truth about the attack, or the truth about Baki's alliances.

Genma himself still didn't know just why it was that Baki was a double agent if the Sand was still their ally. But he wasn't a fool. Even though the Sand insisted that they were allies, the only true explanation for one of their greatest Jounin working with Konoha to help them fend off an invasion was because his own home was planning the attack.

Suna had joined the Hidden Sound in a vendetta against the Hidden Leaf.

What not even the Hokage himself was able to explain was just _why_ a village as small as the Hidden Sound wished to attack a village as large as Konoha.

* * *

When the day of the Chunin Exams finally came, Genma was allowed a day off. Just like the rest of Konoha.

"Farmer man is rooting for me! There's no way he'll want someone that's not his son to win!" Naruto boasted as Genma and the rest of his friends walked beside him.

For a moment, all Genma could remember was the first day of classes for Neji and Tenten all those years ago. Back when the kids had been so young and adorable and _always_ got into trouble. They were so bright eyed and ready to take on the world...

"So that means that he's rooting for me too, huh, Naruto?" Sasuke smirked at his best friend, causing the blonde to stop for a moment, then smile broadly.

"I knew you considered me your brother, _teme_!"

Sasuke bristled at the shout and rolled his eyes with a heavy scoff, all the while Sakura shook her head at her teammates' overly dramatic reactions.

As this happened, Genma could see Kiba, Kotetsu, and Hinata all trying their best to psyche Shino up for his match to his right. And to his left were both Team 10 and Team Guy, doing the same thing with Neji and Shikamaru.

Quite frankly... Not much had changed since they had been kids. The only difference between now and that first day of school from so long ago was that there were more kids accompanying Genma this time around.

"Brats..."

Along with more adults, too.

Genma smiled over in Zabuza's direction, "Oh, come on, Grumpy. You know you love them."

The man from the Mist merely rolled his eyes and shifted his grip on his large sword. Ibiki had shown up at Genma's doorstep with the sword in one hand and a very serious scowl on his face. And the man had accompanied them most of the way towards the site for the Exams, most probably trying to keep an eye on one of the most dangerous men in the world for as long as possible.

A feat which had been made rather difficult because of Ino's insistence of dragging the large man into a cheery conversation with her two teammates.

Genma still couldn't believe that a man as serious as Ibiki actually allowed himself to get bullied around by Inoichi's daughter... But, then again, Ibiki had most probably known Ino for even longer than Genma had. Maybe her bullying him around was just the way their relationship worked.

"Okay, my minions." Genma clapped his hands as they neared the large doorway that led into the main seating area of where the Exams would be held, "This is where we leave you. Haku, stick with the kids and don't lose sight of them. Kiddos, if you lose Haku, it's not me you'll have to answer to; it'll be the Hokage."

The genin that would not be taking part of the Exams groaned and scoffed at the unnecessary reminder but didn't interrupt. So Genma nodded, then turned to the kids that _would_ be fighting.

"And don't you kids forget to be awesome. Show Konoha just how great a teacher I am."

Naruto immediately cheered as he grabbed Sasuke's hand to force him to follow behind him. And for a second before he went after the blonde, Genma swore he was able to see a light blush on the Uchiha's cheeks.

They'd be fine. These two were great in their own rights. They'd pass these Exams without any trouble.

"See you losers later." Kankuro offered a halfhearted wave to them as he walked behind Naruto and Sasuke, all the while Temari didn't offered them a cocky wink. Gaara merely nodded before going after both his siblings.

Shino experienced one final pep-talk from his team and Kotetsu before he quietly walked off, leaving only Neji behind.

The Hyuga looked after the genin that were ahead of him for a moment before he turned back to Genma. And Genma looked back him somewhat curiously, wondering just why he was waiting so long to go ahead.

As they looked at each other, the rest of the ninja that had accompanied them began to go back to their own way, excited to get on with the way. So when it was only him and Neji left, Genma took a step towards the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Everything alright, bud?"

Neji's face was mostly blank, but seemed to brighten when Genma spoke up. "Yes, Genma-nii-san."

The title was one Neji barely used. Whenever they were around others, he stuck to the much more expected 'Genma-san'. But in the few moments that they were allowed to be alone, Neji always managed to make Genma's heart warm and remember the bright eyed young boy whose hand he had held through some of the toughest moments of his childhood.

"You'll be awesome."

Everyone knew who would be fighting who in these last matches. Neji was to confront Naruto. And Genma had no idea how he felt about this match or if he could even root for either of the kids.

Both were like his own sons... How was he supposed to choose between either of them?

"You really think so?"

Moving his hand from Neji's shoulder over to his head so it rested on top of the bandana he proudly wore, Genma smiled warmly down at the Hyuga. "I _know_ so. You'll make everyone proud, Neji. Win or lose. Because you will be amazing out there."

And that was when he was afforded one of the few bright smiles most didn't know a boy as serious as Neji was capable of.

* * *

"My money's on Neji."

"Yeah, there's no way a brat like that monster could ever beat a clan prodigy."

"This is just an unfair match."

Kiba grew angered at the whispers he heard coming from the stupid civilians around him, but soon felt a soft hand placed on his shoulder to try and calm him down. "Just i-ignore them, Kiba-kun."

His female teammate smiled softly to try and calm him and Kiba felt his anger slowly begin to cool.

His relationship with Hinata was still fractured. Just like his relationship with Shino. He still couldn't believe his teammates had decided on such a cowardly plan of action when they might have been able to help. But after working with Kurenai to specifically help him control his temper, the Inuzuka could say he could _understand_ why it was that they had done it.

Self preservation was important. And not everyone could be a hero.

"This fight's unfair." He offered as he crossed his arms over his chest, only to have Akamaru bark from on top of his head in agreement. "Neji's been dealt some pretty shit cards recently, huh?"

First the Hyuga had been forced to face his cousin. And now one of his friends.

"I-I am sure they will both b-be fine."

Breathing in deeply to brace himself, Kiba focused on the arena before him. Neji and Naruto were already squaring off against each other. And Hayate stood a way's away from them, prepared to call these matches as well.

"I just hope you're right, Hinata."

* * *

It hurt Tenten to see Naruto get his ass kicked so horribly. But, just like Hinata, the blonde had not known when he'd been beaten.

Yes, Naruto was a good fighter. And he had quite the upper hand with the forbidden jutsu he loved so much. But Neji was still leagues above him in skill. And that ended up trumping sheer power.

Luckily, though, the next match wasn't one that would cause her too much inner turmoil over who to root for. Kankuro and Shino were supposed to fight, and Tenten knew it was going to be a match for the ages.

It wasn't, though. Kankuro, in a move that would forever leave her dumbfounded, actually _gave_ _up._

It had been really weird too. Before he'd raised his hand to admit defeat, the boy from Suna had looked up at someone in the stands, as if looking for some kind of signal.

After that had come Shikamaru versus Sakura. Once again, Tenten found herself torn between who to root for. Shikamaru was a good friend, just like Sakura.

In the end, though, Tenten had wound up cheering for Sakura. Most people thought that Shikamaru would win simply because of his Nara heritage. But Tenten knew that if Sakura dug in deep, she would be able to beat the lazy boy.

The match had been much less explosive than the one between the pink haired girl and Ino. But it still had its fair amount of explosions and fire style jutsu. It lasted much longer than many would have thought it would have, for it seemed that Sakura had taken a page out of Hinata and Naruto's play book of never giving up. A page that Shikamaru decided to skip over.

Just like Kankuro, the lazy Nara caused a huge uproar when he decided to give up as well. And Tenten felt like bashing him over the head for having been such an idiot and letting the chance of becoming Chunin slip through his fingers because his master plan had not been as perfect as he'd hoped it would have been.

When Dosu and Temari began their fight, Tenten noticed something weird in the crowds.

She'd noticed it before, but it was even more noticeable now. Members of the audience were slowly shuffling away. And they were careful of not being caught, seeing how very little left at the same time. But the trickle effect still left the audience with quite a few blank chairs in an event that had yet to hit its highest and most interesting moment.

"Hey, guys, I'm gonna go visit Farmer man real quick."

* * *

Tenten came to them to tell them of something odd she had observed within the crowds. Something that they had all already noticed.

"It seemed our informant's information was correct." The Hokage hummed as he smoked the pipe in his mouth, then looked at the young girl. "Thank you for coming to us, Tenten."

She smiled back at him and bowed respectfully, then walked up to the edge of the viewing area to look down at the match going on. "You guys have the _best_ seat." She murmured softly, then cocked her head to the side, "It seems Temari's losing this one."

Genma knew that there wasn't much love lost between Tenten and Temari after their match in the preliminary round. And, really, he could not blame the girl for being somewhat happy to see Temari getting her ass kicked. Even though he knew that this wasn't the kind of attitude she should be adopting.

"Think I can stay here for the rest of the time?" Tenten turned with a hopeful glint in her eyes and a broad smile, "Promise I'll behave!"

Even with the threat of an invasion looming over them, Genma knew that they could not let anybody begin to panic unless they were completely sure the attack would go down. And they would only be completely certain when Baki signaled them.

Genma knew that he didn't want any of his kids anywhere near fighting if any broke out. Especially if it happened to be instigated by someone that wanted to hurt the Hokage. But Tenten didn't know that she may just be in trouble and he wasn't the kind to deny his kids a luxury like this once they'd weaseled their way into the exclusive seats.

"Of course, Tenten." The Hokage smiled coolly, then motioned for her to continue looking forward. "I win nothing by taking this view from you."

* * *

Sasuke was nervous.

He had never been the kind to allow himself to actually worry over _fighting_ because he was so great at it... But... He couldn't stop himself.

Naruto had lost his match. But he'd put on a great show while losing.

 _Sakura_ had beaten a _Nara_. If she had beaten anybody else, Sasuke would feel less pressure on his shoulders. But it had been Shikamaru. A genius.

If not for the fact that Sakura had been able to defeat a Nara, Sasuke would not have been so worried. But she _had_. Which meant that if he wanted to prove that he was just as good as his teammates, he would have to beat Gaara. A boy that he _knew_ was incredibly strong.

When Dosu was called the winner of his match, Sasuke forced himself to breathe in deeply and prepare for his match. He could take Gaara on. Just like he could take _anyone_ on.

He was just as smart as Sakura, but he was stronger. There was no doubt as to who would win.

"You'll be awesome, Sasuke!" He heard Sakura cheer, which made his heart fill with confidence.

"Let's meet each other in the finals, yeah?" He smirked as he looked over his shoulders at her, only to find her freeze for a second, then nod animatedly.

"We'll put on a great show for Ebisu Sensei!"

The man deserved to see both of his unrequited students in action. And Sasuke wanted to see for himself just how far he and Sakura would be able to go to win.

He liked that idea... Him and Sakura in the finals...

* * *

When the arena suddenly became quiet, Genma knew that the invasion had begun.

Baki, even for how trusted he was by his own village, had not known exactly when the attack would start. Nor did he know how to stop it. So there had been no way for Konoha to avoid it without risking the perception of their strength as a village from the other villages.

This invasion may have just been avoided if not for the political consequences that would have come from postponing the Chunin Exams.

"Tenten!" He called to the girl as soon as he knew that something was about to happen, but wasn't allowed to finish.

The air was suddenly knocked out of his lungs by a harsh force that sent him flying back and away from the Hokage. And before he could even get up to try and figure out what had happened, the man found a large barrier stopping him from going anywhere near the man.

He couldn't hear what was happening inside. Even though he _was_ able to see what happened. And what he saw made his blood run cold.

 _Orochimaru_.

* * *

Tenten had no idea what was going on. One minute she was enthusiastically watching Sasuke give Temari's sister an ass kicking. Then the next, she found herself standing behind the Hokage as the Kazekage lost his robes to reveal the face of a snake-like humanoid.

"How are you, my old teacher?"

"Lord Hokage?" Tenten's voice shook just slightly as something that she could only describe as a cube formed around them, effectively trapping her and the Hokage with the Kazekage that was starting to think _wasn't_ the actual leader of the Sand.

"Orochimaru... To what do I owe this great displeasure?"

The long haired man had then let out a hollow laugh that chilled Tenten to her very bones. After this, he had begun to saunter about, all the while monologuing like a true villain straight from the stories Genma loved reading to them as kids.

Everything that came after was a blur Tenten wasn't sure she could even properly recall. She was pushed back and far away from the Hokage, instructed to stay as close to the walls around her as possible to make sure she didn't get injured. And then two people were pulled from _coffins_ and they began to fight with the Hokage and-

"Oh, fuck!" The girl wasn't usually one for swearing. But she couldn't stop herself from doing so as the ground beneath her began to sprout _trees_.

From standing in the back, Tenten found herself having to jump from one branch to another to keep herself from getting crushed. And all she could actually do was just that, _run_. She couldn't help the Hokage fight off the men that were attacking hi-

Tenten almost fell from the shock that coursed through her when she noticed who it was that was attacking the Hokage. They were Hokage, too. The First and Second Hokage, to be more specific.

"You have grown weak while I've grown strong, old man!"

The snake cackled from the sidelines as the Hokage all fought together and Tenten couldn't help but sneer in his direction. Only a coward allowed others to fight for him.

But Tenten was being ignored because she was seen as completely weak. Heck, she highly doubted that the unbelievably powerful men fighting _her_ Hokage had even taken note of her. But she was able to use this to her advantage and she jumped as close as she dared to them without being seen to try and see if she could find any weak spots her Hokage could exploit.

What she found left her thanking all the gods that might exist for having had her, Kiba, and Naruto steal the Scroll of Seals so long ago.

* * *

Genma was not able to watch over Tenten, the Hokage, and Zabuza as he would have wished to do. He wasn't going to be productive if he stayed there. And every second he stayed there was a second in which civilians were caught in danger from the Sand and Sound nin that were attacking.

Against his deepest wishes, Genma left the three to fight Orochimaru as he went off to try and incapacitate as many enemies as possible.

Along the way, he was able to find most of his kids and wake them up from their jutsu induced sleep.

Kiba immediately jumped away to help his fellow Konoha shinobi fight off invaders. Hinata stuck to him like glue, refusing to leave her teammate to face powerful enemies alone. Lee jumped into the fray without much doubt as well, quickly joining his friends to keep them from getting overwhelmed.

Ino, Haku, and Chouji all decided to first find as many shinobi as they could instead of begin to fight. They helped Genma wake them up, even though they all ended up having to fend off attackers when the enemy became overzealous.

As Genma managed to drive his senbon into the neck of a woman that got much too close to Ino for his liking, the girl cheered. And when the shinobi she had been working on woke up, Genma understood why she was so happy.

"I was so worried about you, daddy!"

Even though there was still a major invasion to fight off, Genma was happy to see that Inoichi was still safe. And after Inoichi was found, it wasn't too hard to find either of his old teammates. And luckily for all of them, Shikaku immediately began to delegate tasks to all of the shinobi that had been awoken, leaving the genin to continue searching for more reinforcements while Genma and Chouza watched their backs.

* * *

Even with his injuries, Naruto insisted on following after the Sand Siblings. Partly, he was worried about Gaara's injuries and how weird he looked. But it was mostly because he wanted them to explain to him why their fellow shinobi were invading Konoha.

The series of events that followed after were some that he would never be able to truly believe. Even though he knew that he had a nine tailed monster contained within him, Naruto found it hard to believe that there were others that were used as containers like him. And when he heard about the borderline horrible life Gaara had been forced to live through... Well, Naruto was just happy that Gaara had been able to keep _most_ of his sanity.

Sanity which seemed to leave him when the beast within him began to appear.

Punching that very sanity back into his head had not been easy. But Naruto was grateful that the pervy old man had decided to ignore Genma's growls and had continued to teach him. He highly doubted he would have been able to knock sense back into Gaara without the help of Gamabunta.

* * *

"Lord Hokage! They have seals on the backs of their necks! And I know the jutsu to break them out of that snake's control!"

"Tenten, get away from-"

"Look, sir!" Tenten shoved her small notebook into the old man's face, refusing to back down now that he managed to create separation between him and the Hokage from times' past.

This was the small notebook she used to keep track of the forbidden jutsu Kiba had taken pictures of. Even though his plans had been to just take a few, he'd wound up taking pictures of the entirety of the jutsu collected within. One of which happened to be the same jutsu that Orochimaru was using now.

"There is no way... Orochimaru must have changed _something_." The Hokage sounded much more tired than Tenten had ever heard, letting her know how truly dangerous the situation was.

"He _didn't_." She insisted, then pointed at the Hokage that were currently trapped beneath tons of rubble. "I looked them over myself, sir. And the seals on their necks are the same as the one here!"

For a second, the Hokage did nothing but glare down at her. But then the jutsu that had trapped both reanimated men gave in and they jumped back up, cutting his thinking time short.

Suddenly a hand appeared behind her and grabbed her notebook, making Tenten immediately try and stop it from taking it. But another hand wrapped around her wrist, stopping her from reaching for her prized notebook.

"And you're sure that this is the correct jutsu?"

Tenten blinked in stupefaction at suddenly finding _Zabuza_ of all people standing behind her, but soon nodded.

She had known that he would be working to keep the Hokage protected, like Genma. But after him not appearing when everything went down, she had just chalked it up to him having been away from the Hokage when the barrier had been set up.

"Well... It's not like we've got anything else to try, old man." The shark nin grunted as his eyes quickly scanned over Tenten's notes, then threw the notebook back at her. "I'll keep them _all_ occupied. Just do whatever you've got to do as quickly as possible."

And before either the Hokage or Tenten could even try to stop him, the man disappeared. Then he reappeared behind Orochimaru, making him and the two men under his control turn all of their attention to the insane Mist nin.

~/~

Tenten had no idea if her plan would work. But this was the only thing any of them even _believed_ might work to stop reanimated corpses.

One. Two. Three... _Now!_

Without allowing herself to question if she was correct in thinking that she even knew what jutsu had been used to control the revived Hokage, Tenten lunged.

Zabuza and her Hokage had managed to corner them in a way that left their necks completely exposed. And now that she was able to see the seals she would have to break, Tenten moved as quickly as she could. Chakra built up in the tips of her fingers as she forced herself to run faster than she ever had before. Then, once she was close enough, the girl jump and jabbed her hands into the necks of both Hokage.

She _felt_ the mark on their necks as they began to burn up and disappear. But even with the hope that the jutsu had worked, the girl took no chances and jumped away from them, just in case she had been wrong and now found herself in the sights of two of the deadliest ninja to ever live.

All was still for a few seconds as Tenten just panted and watched.

Then the Second Hokage cleared his throat and nodded once in the direction of her Hokage. "You can release us now, Hiruzen. We are free."

"That's impossible!" Orochimaru shouted from his spot on the other side of the battlefield, eyes narrowed, " _Nobody_ knows of this jutsu! Much less of the way to break your own seals!"

The white haired man stayed still in the grasp of the two clones that held him in place, but still smirked. "It seems that someone aside from you and I _does_ know about this forbidden jutsu."

If not for the fact that she was still in mortal danger, Tenten would have cheered at having been able to help solve quite the problem.

Zabuza waited for the Hokage's signal to dispel his clones. But when he did, instead of lunging at either him or her Hokage, both reanimated turned back to glare at Orochimaru.

"I don't take kindly to those that steal from me, _snake_..."

~/~

Orochimaru, after seeing how badly he had been beaten, had tried one final trick to kill the Hokage. Calling on the largest snake Tenten had ever seen in her life, he deflected all attention from him. And as Tenten ran from the monster that was specifically targeting her, the stronger shinobi tried their best to protect her.

They did _exactly_ what the traitor had wanted them to do.

Safely tucked into the arms of the First Hokage, Tenten found herself watching Orochimaru slink towards her Hokage in slow motion with a sword in his hand. And she was about to scream out to the man to watch out, only to find herself being taken away from the scene as the giant snake tried to crush her and the First Hokage beneath its tail.

Tears sprung up to her eyes as the reality of the situation dawned on her. Even with how much she had tried, the Hokage had been killed.

Although, her assumptions were soon cut off when she heart Zabuza suddenly growl out, "I should have stayed in the Mist!"

She had not been able to see how it had happened. But somehow, Zabuza had managed to stop Orochimaru's attack from reaching its intended target by throwing _himself_ onto the sword.

Upon seeing that his final attempt to kill the Hokage had ended in a complete failure, Orochimaru had then decided to cut his losses and escaped. He'd left his giant summons to distract both reanimated Hokage and effectively cut them off from chasing after him.

The Hokage had managed to survive the attempt on his life, even with how fatal and nearly successful it had been. But from the way Zabuza was paling and his grumblings were becoming much less audible, Tenten began to believe that, maybe, they had just traded one life for another.

* * *

Once all the fighting had stopped and Konoha had been allowed a breather, Genma refused to think about all of the casualties. He had seen many of his fellow ninja fall in battle as they tried to keep their home safe. And later on, he'd be able to mourn their deaths. But right now, he could not allow himself the moment of sadness he knew he would need.

Before he allowed himself to truly internalize everything that had happened, he would have to make sure that all of his kids were safe.

One by one he was able to find the kids that had weaseled their way into his heart. And upon being called to him, each genin ran up to him and refused to leave his side.

By the time he had reached the Hokage, all of his kids were with him, along with all of the not-teenagers, Haku, and the three Suna kids.

The aged man looked even older than Genma thought might be possible as he sat on his chair, all the while three different medical ninja worked on a body on the floor. Behind him stood two men Genma had never thought he'd ever see.

"Uh... Are those really the First and Second Hokage?" Neji questioned dumbfoundedly, for once too tired to be respectful and keep track of his manners.

"That we are." The man with the long black hair offered a radiant smile as he turned to look at the children, then offered them a small wave. "Hi."

Quite frankly, Genma was much too tired to even try and question why these two men were living and breathing again. All he wanted to do was find Tenten to make sure she was still alive, then return to his home.

When the girl jumped up, Genma found out that she had been leaning over the very body the medical staff had been working on. And she quickly ran up to him to hug him tightly, face burrowing into his chest.

"Tenten? What's wrong?" He questioned as he wrapped his own arms around the girl, immediately worried.

He could see that the Hokage was alive, even though he seemed worse for wear. And Tenten was in his arms and mostly unscathed, except for a few cuts and bruises on her arms and rips in her legs. The only person he did _not_ see was Zabuza.

"Zabuza... He..." Tenten tried, only to devolve into sobs, arms tightening around Genma's body.

Immediately the man's eyes went to the body on the floor. And his heart plummeted.

"He stopped an attack that was meant for me." The Hokage offered solemnly, keeping his gaze down on the floor even as he spoke. "The sword used to attack was laced with a poison beyond our understanding. We have no hope of saving him."

* * *

Pulling the kids away from Zabuza had been nearly impossible. But with the help of the older kids, Genma was able to lead them away from the Mist Nin as he was prepared to be transported to the hospital. And as quickly as he could, the man herded them over to his apartment to be able to make them food to fill their stomachs and distract them from all of the pain they had just witnessed and experienced.

His apartment, though, was no more. Just like a dozen other buildings near the area where it had once stood.

All of his personal belongings... All of the pictures he had collected of the children over the years... All of the small mementos he had managed to keep from his family... They were all _gone_.

Genma was hit so hard by this sudden realization that he didn't even find tears forming in his eyes. He was so saddened by the sudden realization of no longer owning _anything_ that he didn't even feel like crying.

"Farmer man..." He heard Naruto whisper from his side, then felt the boy grab his hand, "What are we going to do?"

At the gesture of comfort that was the kid grabbing his hand, Genma suddenly remembered that he had not been the only one to lost his home. Naruto and Sasuke had too. Just like the rest of the kids had lost a second home.

Looking down at him with a sad smile, Genma raised his left hand to ruffle his blonde hair. "We're going to rebuild, of course."

The words felt hollow as they fell from his lips. But at the hope that he could see shining in all of the faces that surrounded him, both young and grown, he knew that the words had been the correct ones.

..~..~..

I'm thinking that three more chapters will be published, then I'll take a small hiatus from writing anything Genma related. I've got a few stories to finish up before embarking on another multi-chaptered monstrosity.

I hope you all liked it! Please review and tell me what y'all think!


	20. Chapter 20

_Chapter 20: The Ways in Which They Were Able to Rebuild:_ It was not easy to rebuild. Nor was it easy to go on about their lives after tragedy had struck just about all of them. But Genma and his kids were able to move forward. Just like the rest of their village.

..~..~..

"I am not completely sure just how long the jutsu will last."

"So that means I get to control you guys until your bodies fade away or whatever?"

Genma had no idea just how it was possible for two men as legendary as the First and Second Hokage to stand before him like they were doing right now. And he certainly did not understand just how it was possible for Tenten to talk to them with such ease. But he couldn't say he was surprised to see that one of his kids had somehow managed to befriend dead people. In the long list of impossibilities that they had done, it certainly wasn't the oddest.

The white haired man sent a sharp glare in Tenten's direction before he looked back at his old student, "This means that until I have more data on the jutsu and sacrifices Orochimaru used, I will not know with complete certainty just what to expect when it comes to our bodies."

The Third Hokage nodded solemnly at his teacher's words, then looked down at the only genin within the office.

Tenten, as was expected of someone as confident as herself, stood with her back straight and her shoulders squared as she watched the males around her interact. She stood directly beside Genma, even though she was more interested in the dark haired ex-Hokage than the white haired one.

"The seal used by Orochimaru was broken, yes." The Second Hokage muttered after a few seconds of silence, turning his red eyes onto Tenten. "But in the midst of her destroying it, this young kunoichi somehow managed to replace it with one of her own creation. Which is a seal I am guessing even _she_ does not know how she managed to create. Much less utilize."

At being addressed, the young girl smiled toothily, "No idea whatsoever, sir!"

The man frowned at her answer, but quickly turned to his old student. "Until we test the limits of our bodies, we will not be able to learn anything."

"Of that I am aware, Tobirama Sensei." The Third Hokage answered with a heavy sigh, then quickly shook his head. "Lord Hashirama, have you managed to come up with any kind of cure for Zabuza?"

Genma was able to see Tenten lean forward expectantly at hearing the man's name, and he couldn't help but feel somewhat bad for the girl. Just like the rest of his kids, she was worried for Zabuza's well being. And, really, he could not blame her for wanting to find out as much as she could about his condition. She had been there during the fighting and had seen the effects of him sacrificing his body to keep their Hokage safe.

"The poison is much too complex for me to truly understand." The man answered with an annoyed huff, "Whatever it's made of, it's nasty and would have killed someone weaker than him the second it entered its bloodstream. But that man is strong and seems unwilling to give up just yet. At the moment, we have managed to keep the poison from reaching his heart... But the second it does, there will be no stopping it..."

Tenten visibly deflated upon hearing this and Genma patted her shoulder to try and offer her some comfort. The First Hokage looked down at her sympathetically, even though the Second merely shook his head in annoyance.

"There is no one in Konoha that is able to look at him? I know my brother would be able to synthesize an antidote if given just a month, but-"

"We don't have a month. We have a week, at the most." Hashirama interrupted, then looked over at the current Hokage once more. "You wouldn't happen to have any medical gods lying around, would you?"

The unamused frown the Third Hokage sent the other man was enough of an answer for all of them. And that left a bitter taste in Genma's mouth, for he knew that there _was_ one person that could have helped them... If only she had not been part of the Sannin.

Those three 'greats' were some of the greatest disappointments Konoha had ever produced.

"Until now," the Third Hokage began, completely changing the topic of the conversation, "There have not been any true accommodations for you two. The Hokage estate is currently being used as a secondary hospital for the truly worrisome cases, much like Zabuza. And there was such mass destruction among our village that there are no buildings to use as temporary quarters. Many of our shinobi are homeless."

Genma understood this reality much better than many others might. His home had been levelled by Orochimaru's invasion and he was currently living off the kindness of others. Much like Iwashi, Hayate, and Kotetsu and Izumo had been forced to do.

"Some of our Clans have managed to step up and open their doors to help us relieve the flood of homeless ninja. Just like many of the civilian populace has been kind enough to give aid wherever they can. If not from offering a home, then from building one."

Right now, Genma, Naruto, Haku, and Sasuke all found themselves taking refuge in the Hyuga Clan's compound. And along with them, so were the rest of the not-children that didn't have any civilian family to rely on. As orphans of the War, Iwashi and Hayate had no one to help them. And even though they hadn't lost their parents during the war, neither Kotetsu or Izumo had family members that were willing to help them.

"Genma," The older male called upon him, making the senbon enthusiast look at him with a quirked eyebrow. "I have been able to talk with Lord Hiashi and he has managed to convince the rest of his Clan to allow you, Sasuke, Naruto, and the rest of your charges to stay with within the Compound as guests until you have found more permanent accommodations."

It was good to hear that Hiashi had agreed to keeping them for a while longer. Because even though Genma knew the man didn't mind having them around, some of the elders were still rather hurt over everything the kids had done to them over the years.

"That's good to hear and all, sir... But I don't understand why you're telling me this while..." Genma drifted off as he looked over at Hashirama and Tobirama, then he glared. "No. No, no, and _no_. I am _not_ -"

Both older males turned to look at him curiously, while Tenten looked up at him with an amused glint in her eyes. She had, apparently, already caught wind of what it was that Genma was protesting against.

"Genma, _please_. You are one of my most trusted shinobi-"

"I am _not_ some kind of daycare instructor, Lord Hokage!"

Tenten snickered at this, then butted in, "Sorry to tell you this, Farmer man, but you've been one from the second you allowed Neji into your apartment."

Genma turned his glare onto her for a second, grew annoyed in the way she only seemed to get even more amused, then turned back to his boss. "I understand your reasoning, sir, but you cannot possibly expect me to-"

"That is _exactly_ what I expect of you." The man interrupted, then offered a smile, "Just look at it this way, now you'll have two extra pair of hands to keep the children from running amok."

* * *

The Second Hokage was _not_ amused. With _anything_.

Not only had he been pulled away from eternal rest by a _traitor_ that had used him and his brother to fight his old student, but now he was forced to live with a man and children he did not know within the compound of the Hyuga Clan.

If not for the fact that Hiruzen had done this to keep a close eye on him and Hashirama, Tobirama would not be bothered. But the man had specifically thrust them towards this Genma character so that the male could watch over them as if they were dangerous to the rest of Konoha. And they were _not_ dangerous.

The young kunoichi that had been locked in with people far stronger than her during the confrontation with Orochimaru, even with her inexperience with seals, had somehow managed to free them completely from the traitor's control.

When he had first created this forsaken technique, Tobirama had been disgusted with the total control he had over the dead. But with a few tweaks, he had managed to create a seal that would not completely suppress a person's own wishes.

How Orochimaru or Tenten had managed to get their hands on his notes was beyond him. But Tobirama was just grateful that, even though the traitor had managed to find the technique, he had been dumb enough to keep it as Tobirama had left it. For if he had changed it in any way, Tenten's plan would have only ended in complete disaster.

As a stray noodle flew over his head to land on Hashirama's chest, Tobirama could not help but cross his arms over his chest and allow his hate towards Orochimaru grow.

"Hey! You're cheating!" Tenten shouted from Hashirama's left, throwing her chair back as she stood up and slammed her hands against the dining table.

"Yeah! You're not supposed to be noodles! They're hard to hit back!" The man- much to Tobirama's utter embarrassment- followed after Tenten, mimicking her almost exactly.

Suppressing the long suffered sigh that he wanted to release, Tobirama closed his eyes and tensed his arms to stop himself from lashing out at his older brother.

Yes, it was good that Hashirama was able to relax and have fun, even with how dark and tense the mood around Konoha was currently. And, yes, it was also good to be able to see the once sullen faces of the children they had met the past day now smiling and cheering. _But_ they were currently throwing _food_ away as if mere toys or trash. And some of that food was getting a bit too close to him for comfort.

"I leave the room for _one minute_ and you turn it upside down? What in the world, guys? How old are you?"

Fortunately for the well being of the genin around him, the senbon lover walked back into the dining room before Tobirama began to think of ways to restrain them.

For a second, all of the people that had taken part in the 'food wars' froze as they looked at Genma. But then Hashirama cleared his throat, "I was dead for a couple of years. Should I add those to my real age?"

Hearing this unbelievably stupid reply from Hashirama was Tobirama's breaking point. With a snarl, the man kicked his left leg out and slammed it into the back of Hashirama's right knee, causing him to scream out in pain and fall onto the ground. Then, when Tobirama's eyes snapped open, he sent a glare to _all_ of the children surrounding him.

"Finish your meal."

All of the kids looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes as Hashirama groaned in pain on the floor. But then Tobirama picked up his chopsticks and began to eat once more, ignoring the looks sent his way.

To his left, he knew that Tenten helped Hashirama get up. But the man, instead of trying to call his brother out on his harsh violence, merely smartened up and remained quiet.

The peaceful silence lasted for the rest of their dinner.

* * *

Whenever Genma went to visit Zabuza at the Hokage Compound, the man was reminded of how truly fickle life was.

Zabuza was a strong man that could fight off the best of them. He was an imposing behemoth that stood above a great deal of Konoha shinobi and his surly attitude didn't help make him seem any nicer.

But he looked _so small_ on the giant bed prepared to keep him company during his stay in the Hokage's estate. The man was losing muscle mass and seemed outright dwarfed by the bed he had been lain on. Which was a feat in itself, seeing how truly large Zabuza was... Had been...

"Back from visiting Zabuza so soon?"

The question that came from Hiashi was innocent and purely curious. Logically speaking, he had reason to ask. First of all, he too was worried over the man's condition. But Genma's visits to the man had become shorter and shorter, leaving him to return to the Hyuga Compound much sooner that he would have when he first went to visit.

"Yeah... His condition is still the same, Lord Hiashi." Genma struggled to keep his voice from showing too much emotion, all the while he kept his eyes on the ground before him, rather than on the man that had walked up to him as he crossed through the Compound's gates. "Nothing has changed. And there's still a rather high risk of his death."

Using the words 'high risk' was not meant to ease how Hiashi took the news. Genma used them to keep himself from speaking out loud what he still hoped wouldn't become reality... Even though he _knew_ it was going to be what happened.

Zabuza was going to die.

"That is troubling." Hiashi murmured softly as he raised his hand to grab his chin, then closed his eyes in thought.

Genma allowed the man to keep his silence and continued to look down at the floor. He tried his best to not seem too affected by the news, he was never meant to have forged any kind of relationship with the missing-nin from the Mist.

But Zabuza, just like Haku, just like the Sand kids, just like _all_ of his kids... He'd found a way to make himself important.

Genma had not lost someone important to him ever since the Fourth Hokage had died... And he wasn't quite sure if he was ready to deal with this kind of loss ever again...

"Would you like to go and get some tea?"

In all honesty... All Genma wanted to do was hide in a bar and get something _strong_ to drink.

But he couldn't fall into his old habits. He had kids to take care of. He was a role model now. And no matter how sad he wanted to be, Zabuza had still not died. And until he was totally gone, the kids would refuse to allow him to be sullen.

"Sure."

* * *

Now that they were all, essentially, living together, Kotetsu found himself accidentally wandering into private conversations all of the time. Often times, even though they were private, they were mostly innocent and inconsequential. But there was one time in which he _knew_ he should have said something to stop Naruto from his crazed idea. But he wasn't allowed to because of one simple plea from Shino: "Don't."

Naruto, Shino, and Shikamaru had all been discussing about Zabuza's current state and how hopeless they were, even with the help of someone as intelligent as the First Hokage. Naruto was the one most affected by the man's injuries, but both Shino and Shikamaru, even though they didn't like the man, were still rather sympathetic towards his emotions.

Kotetsu had been meaning to walk around them as he _didn't_ listen in on them to get to Iwashi and Izumo from Hanabi's room. The Hokage wanted all able bodied shinobi out on missions to try and save face with the other Hidden Villages, so it was up to him to find those two so they were all able to head out together.

But as he'd made his way through the outer edges of the Hyuuga garden, he had heard something that had immediately made him forget about his mission and jump towards the genin.

"I'm going with the Pervy Sage. We need to find that Tsunade lady."

Pervy Sage was Naruto's loving nickname for the Sannin, Jiraiya. And there was no question as to who Tsunade was. And seeing how this wasn't the first time Kotetsu had found Naruto speaking about these two, there was no doubt in the man's mind as to just what the blonde was talking about.

"Naruto, you're not going anywhere with that man."

Genma was a very understanding man that chose to roll with the punches life threw at him rather than try to fight. He barely ever fought someone unless it was absolutely necessary, and he chose to use sympathy and words rather than violence and threats when it came to conflicts with those he loved. Outside of the village, the man was a beast. But inside, he was as caring as a (excuse the overuse of the term) mother hen.

So for a man as kind and chill as him to grow impassioned and _angry_ at someone, it meant that he had reason to hate them. And if _he_ had a reason to hate them, then so did Kotetsu. If he hated the Sannin and didn't want him anywhere near Naruto, then Kotetsu wasn't about to keep him in the dark as to the blonde's insistence on training with him.

Just like Kotetsu, Genma knew about all of the little training sessions Naruto had with Jiraiya. But, in a true Genma fashion, the man acted as if he were oblivious just to keep Naruto happy. Kotetsu guessed that as long as Jiraiya stayed away from his home, then the man wouldn't try anything. And as long as he didn't try anything _too risky_ with the boy, then Genma would allow him to continue teaching the boy.

But right now Kotetsu _knew_ that Genma would throw a fit and try to murder Jiraiya.

"Ko? What are you doing here?"

"If you three didn't sense me, you need to get better at watching your surroundings." The man replied bluntly, glaring at the surprised blonde. "Kid, you're not going anywhere with Jiraiya."

"What?!" Naruto stood up with a shout, then began to shake his fist at Kotetsu, "You have no idea what you're talking about, Ko! Zabuza needs Tsunade because she's the only one in the world that can help him!"

"Kid, you don't know-"

"Don't."

Kotetsu shut up immediately when Shino said that. And he turned to look at his little Aburame brother with wide eyes, surprised that he was actually considering going behind Genma's back on something they all knew he felt strongly about.

"We need to find this woman. And Naruto is to go with Jiraiya to find her." Now Neji stepped forward to glare at him, voice deathly serious.

It was wrong for kids as young as them to sound like this. To fear over the death of someone they had obviously grown close to. But this was just a part of their lives. People were born. People lived. People died. It was just the way their world worked.

"Neji-"

Shino grabbing onto his arm stopped him immediately. Kotetsu turned to look into the Aburame's eyes, knowing him so well that he could go past the sunglasses without any kind of difficulty... And all he found was that little kid that had lost his big brother because of unfair decisions made by people that would never give a damn about any of them.

" _Don't_."

Kotetsu felt all kind of fight that he held within disappear when he was forced to face those eyes. His little brother _wanted_ Naruto to go ahead and leave with Jiraiya. Even though Genma would be pissed, he, along with Neji, was willing to take the blame for having helped Naruto with his silly idea.

Well... Neji and Shino wouldn't be alone when they were blamed. Hell, he'd take on all the blame himself.

He'd do anything to keep Shino from looking at that like him every again.

* * *

Hashirama did not mind being stuck in the Hyuga Compound like his brother had at first. Being surrounded by children was a novelty, even though the children were constantly on rotation.

Some nights he was able to spend time with the kunoichi that had freed him and his brother from Orochimaru's and he spent that time training with her and helping her refine her long ranged attacks so she was better at protecting herself from nullifiers. She was fun to be around because she did not seem to care about his position or strength and just had fun with him while she learned.

Her hope and love for living kind of reminded the man of his granddaughter, Tsunade, a little bit.

Aside from that, Hashirama kept himself entertained by helping the rest of the genin improve in their individual abilities. And when none of the kids were around to keep him busy, the man would visit Hiruzen and Zabuza at the Hokage Estate. Partly it was to hear what new work the elderly man had to assign to him so he could help in the rebuilding of the village. But partly it was to visit the man that had gotten wounded saving someone that he'd had no true reason to save.

A ninja from the Mist had been willing to lay his life down for the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf... If Hashirama had heard someone tell him this while he had been alive the first time around, he would have asked what the punchline was. But he'd seen the man's sacrifice with his own life. And it irked him to no end that the poison was so complex that it would have taken him much too long to find a cure for it.

By the time he had found the antidote, Zabuza would have been dead.

And because they had no idea just how long he and Tobirama would be alive for, the Third Hokage had decided to give them jobs that weren't too pressing or life threatening. Just in case they vanished in the middle of the work so they wouldn't leave anything completely necessary only halfway done.

When he had first heard Jiraiya's plan to find Tsunade and heal Zabuza, he'd been hurt to hear that his own flesh and blood had left their village. But he understood the pain of a broken heart and did not hold it against her. He was actually pretty excited to see the woman his granddaughter had grown into. She must have been strong and intelligent to be one of the greatest of her generation.

Hiruzen had told him and Tobirama that it would be for the best if Genma did not hear about Jiraiya's little trip. He would not have cared at all if Jiraiya had gone on his own. But seeing how he was taking two of the man's kids, he was _not_ going to be happy.

Hashirama had not expected Genma to react so violently.

But he had also learned his lesson: Whenever it came to Genma, he should _never_ mention the man called Jiraiya.

... Even though he still didn't know just _why_ the man hated the Sannin so much...

* * *

The kids were out on many more missions than before because of all the people Konoha had lost during the invasion. Actually, _all_ of them were busy with missions because of the invasion.

Even Hiashi had been called out on a couple of missions, which was pretty much unheard of when it came to the head of a clan as serious and loyal to itself as the Hyuga.

Genma grew used to arriving to the Hyuga Compound and find that all of the kids were gone on out of the village missions to keep Konoha image strong, all the while the older kids worked all around the village to keep it safe. Sometimes this was inverted at the genin were inside of the village, completing easier duties, while the older and wiser shinobi were off. It was a kind of interchanging system to keep the ninja from burning out, even with the impressive amount of work they all did.

Even though they had been allowed a few days to rest after the invasion, the Third Hokage could not play favorites and give any of them more time to spend together than he was giving the rest of his people.

Even the First and Second Hokage were being put to work in the fields that they worked best in.

One night he returned to the Compound, tired and wishing for some food, Genma noticed was a bit off.

Raidou accompanied him and Iwashi back to their temporary home after their joint mission. They had been sent on a wild goose chase of a mission in which they were forced to deal with one of the most infuriating men Genma had ever met in his life.

The sorry jerk had the gall to insist that his son had gone missing, even after all the evidence pointed towards _him_ having murdered the poor kid. And to keep them from finding out the truth, the sly bastard had sent them on all kinds of leads. His endgame for killing his kid was to end up with his wife's whole estate (the money, the jewels., the land, _everything_ ). But Genma, Raidou, and Iwashi did _not_ take being used as glorified _idiots_ lightly. Especially because this mission had been so needlessly stupid that if not for the money they made, Genma would have jabbed a senbon into that monster's throat the second he had understood the whole case.

Shinobi were _not_ replacements for a town's police enforcements. But it seemed that, as a power move, the man had contracted ninja from _Konoha_. For those shinobi were the ones that cost the most and were the best around.

Genma _hated_ bastards like him. They only cared about money and power. And they didn't give a single shit about the people they might hurt. He'd even killed his _own_ son!

That case had wound up with a small confrontation between the jerk and his body guards. They had been easy enough to take care of, but the moment Genma had gotten his hands on the bastard to cuff him... All he had managed to see had been the guy's kid. A kid that had been no older than Hana, so sick he could barely leave his room, and... He'd looked _a lot_ like Itachi.

For a second, Genma had contemplated murdering the repulsive man. And his fingers had twitched... It would have been so easy.

How could someone hurt a kid like _that_?

How could someone hurt _Itachi_?

How... How could Itachi hurt them? His family and friends? Hadn't they been good enough?

Tears sprung up into his eyes as he glared into the choking man's eyes. And his teeth clamped down so harshly on his senbon that he felt one of them give and crack beneath the pressure.

But all he could see was Itachi's sullen face as someone _forced_ him into murdering his whole clan... Because there was no way a kid as good as that could have turned on his whole _home_ without someone forcing his hand.

Itachi's face was suddenly replaced with the choking man's own as his sputters and groans became louder and his face much too red to be healthy. It was only when the he became a shade of _purple_ , though, that Genma finally allowed his hands to leave his throat.

When he'd gotten up from the floor, he'd turned around and found himself in the man's overly lavish mansion. He had not been in Konoha when Itachi had killed his clan... That had happened a long time ago.

Iwashi and Raidou hadn't said a single thing as they'd allowed him to pass them by. They'd only busied themselves tying up the man's guards and then, once he had finished coughing and cursing Konoha's brutes, the murderer himself.

After that, all Genma had truly wanted was to return to his makeshift home in the Hyuga Compound and just spend a little bit of time with the kids that always seemed to know what to do even though they didn't truly understand what was happening.

The reason why he knew that things were different was because, as soon as he passed through the Compound's gates, he was met with Sasuke, Sakura, and Team 8 greeting him. Kiba and Haku, though, weren't anywhere to be found.

Just like they had done when they were kids, they had asked all about his mission and wanted to know all the details. Genma, though, had (for the first time in a very long time) not known what he should have said. What he _could_ have said.

Luckily for him, they had all had the excuse of this being a completely classified mission that none but a select few could know about. Raidou had told this to the kids before Genma had even had to falter over a bad excuse. And then Iwashi had begun to tell them about a different mission he had gone on with Hayate just to be able to distract them. And all for Genma's sake.

He would have to find a way to thank them later on.

The kids avoided speaking about Naruto or Haku, which was odd, seeing how even Raidou had asked them about those two. And then, as if that hadn't been weird enough, Kotetsu and Izumo actively avoided _him_. And he knew for a fact that those two were inside of the village because it was their turn to help the Hokage out with paperwork.

~/~

Genma had not seen hide or hair of Naruto or Haku for the past three days. And it was completely justified that he worried, seeing how Naruto _never_ allowed more than just a few hours to pass before he forced himself onto Genma once he'd heard the man had arrived.

But when he'd found out exactly why it was that these two were missing, he was more hurt by the fact that Naruto had felt a need to hide the truth from him than actually angered.

He'd still been pissed off, though. And it had taken both the First and Second Hokage to stop him from leaving the village with a kidnapped Kiba under his arm to be able to track down the conniving little shits.

He could accept Jiraiya teaching Naruto behind his back because of the simple fact that, yes, the man knew a few things that might help the son of the Fourth Hokage in the future. He could accept the man acting as if everything was fine with the boy even after he had _abandoned him_ all those years ago.

But he could _not_ accept this pretentious _shithead_ coming to his home and taking his _son_ away from him without even _consulting him_!

"Shiranui, you must calm down." The Second Hokage glared up at him even as the senbon enthusiast struggled to free himself from the tree roots that had wrapped around him after Tobirama had managed to box him into a corner in front of the Village Gates. "You cannot go-"

"He sure can!" Kiba shouted from beside the First Hokage, smiling broadly even as the Second Hokage turned his deadly glare onto him.

The First Hokage was standing a bit away from Genma after the man had shown his proficiency with shooting senbon from his mouth and managed to scratch his cheek. To say the First Hokage was scared of him after having hurt him would be a stretch. But from the way he seemed somewhat reluctant to hold onto Kiba, one could see he was just a _tiny_ bit worried of Genma's wrath.

"Pup, hush." Hashirama scolded lightly, then frowned up at the tightly restrained younger man. "If I had known you'd react so violently to telling the truth, I would have kept quiet about Naruto and Haku going to find my granddaughter."

Genma sneered at him as he forced his body to try and escape from the roots that held him in place, only to find that they wouldn't budge. They weren't tightening up, but it was just enough pressure on him to stop him from any kind of escape attempt.

"That _bastard_ needs to learn his place." The man hissed, only to receive an eye roll from the white haired male, all the while the dark haired brother kept a displeased frown on his lips. "He can't just take Naruto without telling me!"

"He can when the _acting_ Hokage has given them permission to leave." The Second Hokage hissed, then crossed his arms over his chest. "Zabuza is going to die and the only person that has enough knowledge to save him is the one Naruto, Haku, and Jiraiya went to find. Do you _not_ want Zabuza to live?"

The question hit Genma right where it hurt and made all anger leave his body. Only to be replaced with disappointment and pain.

He _did_ want Zabuza to live... But...

"I can't let that man get away with this." He whispered, "Everything he has done for Naruto... It's just a ruse of some kind... He doesn't give a single _shit_ about him."

His eyes stayed on the collection of roots that held him in place, avoiding any of looks those around him may be giving him.

"You can't be right about-"

"I'm _right_!" Genma growled as he interrupted the First Hokage, not giving a damn about the respect he had to show someone strong enough to be called a God of Shinobi. "You weren't here to see what he did." Then he spit in disgust, as if speaking if Jiraiya brought a foul taste to his mouth. Which it _did_. "Or what he didn't do, to be more precise."

The long haired man sighed all the while his younger brother remained quiet. And Genma just kept quiet, more than sure that if he said anything, he'd do something _really stupid_.

Then he heard Kiba mutter, "Listen guys... Farmer man's a good judge of character. If he hates this guy, there's a reason for it. And I say we let him hunt this guy down!"

"When I first met the Inuzuka Clan, I never thought they would end up with spawn like _you_." Tobirama told the boy in a disinterested sigh, then turned to look back at Genma. "What are you going to do once you and this genin have managed to track down those three? Would you really be willing to attack a man Naruto holds on such a high pedestal? Would you truly be willing to ruin the image that boy has of you simply because of petty revenge."

It _wasn't_ petty revenge. Jiraiya had trampled all over Genma's tolerance and shattered any kind of restrictions the man had placed. He had not given a single damn about Naruto's feelings back when he had left the village; who the hell did he think he was to think he should still even be allowed in that kid's life?

He had to admit, although highly unwillingly, that the Second Hokage had a point. If he went through with his ill planned thoughts, he'd just make himself into the bad guy in Naruto's eyes. And he didn't want that.

Tsunade was the only one that could heal Zabuza in the time they had. Jiraiya had taken Naruto and Haku with him to find her. And the reason he had taken them was to use guilt to persuade the woman. If he had held other intentions, Genma did not care. This was the only one he needed to think he had held.

It pained Genma to promise to the Hokage that he wouldn't go off on his own with a kidnapped Inuzuka under his arms. But then Hashirama had smiled and allowed the roots to release his body, and that smile reminded Genma so much of Naruto's that he had stumbled for a second before he had regained his composure.

Kiba had groaned in annoyance at not being allowed to test out his summoning jutsu against Jiraiya, which had immediately caught Tobirama's attention. And after that, Genma and Hashirama wound up trailing behind the Inuzuka and the white haired man as they spoke about the summons and their oddities.

~/~

(Later on, Genma would hear a rumor about Tobirama entering the current Hokage's office to scold him about having allowed _genin like the ones Tenten and Kiba were_ to steal the Scroll of Seals he had worked so actively to hide from the rest of the world.)

(He was not sure if the rumor had any substance to it, but Tobirama would then force Tenten and Kiba to spend time with him as he forced information about the jutsu into them.)

(The only reason he made them learn was because he could not- which was unfortunate to him- take the information of the jutsu away from them. For doing it just physically would change nothing. And he was forbidden from playing around with other's minds. Or making other, more capable shinobi, mess minds for him.)

* * *

"These two... They were _idiots_!"

"For once, I completely agree with you, Blondie. Have you ever seen Farmer man look so sad before?"

Hinata remained quiet as she listened to Kiba and Ino vent about Naruto and Haku's departure with the Sannin Jiraiya. Even though she felt like it had been for the best, seeing how this was the only way they might be able to find a way to heal Zabuza, she agreed that her friends had not made the best decisions.

Naruto was like Genma's son at this point. Just like Sasuke. For him to leave so suddenly without saying anything... It must have hurt Genma a lot.

As she listened to her friends speak, the young Hyuga shuffled her feet softly.

Genma had been under a lot of pressure recently. Just like the rest of them, really. But it seemed to be getting to him more than the other shinobi she knew. Even her father had asked her to keep a closer eye on him, just in case he needed some tea to calm down.

This was not a man with too many belongings. His apartment was decorated with barely anything of his own, for it had always displayed their artworks with full pride. And of the few things he owned, Hinata knew most had held personal value to him.

He'd lost everything with the invasion. Not only a place to sleep, but a _home_. One filled with all kinds of memories of their little family.

"I..." Hinata murmured softly, immediately catching Kiba's attention.

"What's up, Hinata?"

"I... I'm going to Genma-san's apartment."

Both of her friends were left perplexed once they heard this. But it seemed that Ino understood the determination within Hinata's eyes, for she soon smiled and nodded.

"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then we'll be able to fix up this mess those two blockheads created!"

Hinata beamed upon hearing such confident words about her still unvoiced plan.

It was nice to hear that she would be helping out Farmer man.

* * *

When Naruto, Haku, and Jiraiya returned, they did so with a blonde woman that managed to save Zabuza.

Genma was beyond grateful to the woman for having cured the Mist nin. And to Naruto and Haku for having brought her. But he refused to even think of Jiraiya, much less think anything _good_ about him.

He didn't tell either kid anything when they entered the Hyuga Compound. He didn't have to.

Naruto's whole body read 'GUILTY' as he slowly walked in behind Haku, reminding the man a lot of when he had been younger and would get caught doing something stupid. Haku was a bit more composed in his guilt, but his eyes still avoided Genma's own as he walked up to the man.

They both knew what they had done. And they knew it had hurt him.

For a second, Genma felt like he should scold them in some manner over having left with _Jiraiya_ of all people. It had hurt him to know that they were with a man he could not stand. Even more so because they had refused to tell him _anything_.

But they both believed in him for some reason. And until now, Jiraiya had been good for the village. And he'd taught Naruto a few things. They were _far_ from hating him like Genma hated him.

So instead of scolding them for leaving _with the man_ , Genma decided to scold them on leaving and making others keep their expedition a secret. It was a nice middle ground between letting the kids know he was disappointed in them and hurt them for insulting the Sannin they (unfortunately) looked up to.

"You two better be ready to make up for leaving me without saying anything." The man muttered through his senbon, then smirked, "I really missed your chatter when I got home from the mission. Just didn't feel the same without you two around."

He wouldn't tell them about he had wanted to see Naruto and Sasuke the most after his horrible mission. Or about how he despised Jiraiya with every fiber of his being for being such a repulsive man. Or about how hurt he had been to find out that they were so scared of him they would rather face punishment after getting in trouble rather than talking to him about their plans.

These two liked Jiraiya.

The bastard would just have to be another thing he'd end up having to tolerate for his kids' sakes.

* * *

Not even a day after Naruto and Haku had returned, Genma was sent on a mission with Tsume and Shikaku. It was a top secret one he was pretty sure he wasn't completely qualified for. And they were out looking for a criminal organization's tracks.

Their mission was to just find the tracks that the Hokage had been informed as to having been left behind by a sloppy snag and run of a woman with a bounty on her head.

Why they were looking for people in black cloaks that had red clouds on them, Genma wasn't completely sure. But the mission was mostly fruitless and they all returned to Konoha with nothing other than bags under their eyes to show for their efforts.

As he'd walked back to the Hyuga Compound, Genma could not help but wonder which kid would be there waiting for him. If any were waiting.

His thoughts had become a bit too dark for his own liking ever since the invasion. But he tried his best to keep his resolve high, he still had his kids to take care of. Even though he had nothing to show for years spent taking care of them.

Nothing to show for the family he had once had either...

Nothing to show for his past.

"Hey, Shiranui, do you mind if we accompany you over to the Hyuga place?" Tsume questioned as she roughly grabbed him by his shoulder, effectively pulling Genma away from his thoughts. "Hiashi wants to meet with us."

"Why would I mind?" The man questioned, then shrugged, "It's a free village."

After that the group of three had walked towards the Hyuga Compound in silence. And when they reached the gates, Genma began to offer them a wave, for they would be going to the main branch's house and he'd be heading to the housing that held the rest of the Hyuga.

But as he'd taken a step inside, his eyes caught on something that made him forget his goodbye.

There, standing in the Hyuga's main road, were all of the kids. Not just the genin, but the older ones as well. Along with Haku, Zabuza, and their parents. _And_ all of Genma's friends. Even Ibiki. And somehow, for some reason beyond him, by a stroke of luck that made tears spring up in the man's eyes, they held the banner Inoichi and the first few kids had made for him all those years ago for when he returned from a particularly long mission.

'Welcome home, Farmer man'

Signed by all of the kids in their own unique way.

But paper had been added, which meant that there was more space to be filled up with even more signatures. And from what he could see, everybody that stood waiting for him in that moment had signed.

Even the ever grumpy Zabuza and ever stoic Ibiki.

Then Neji, Hinata, and Ino stepped forward with a large book in their hands. They walked up to him and offered it to him, then Neji opened it for him. Genma was much too frozen to open it himself.

The first thing he saw was a torn, weathered, and abused picture of these three back when it had only been just them, finger painting together. Neji and Hinata sat together and Ino sat on the other side of the table. The blonde's hand was reaching out to pain the young girl. And a much younger Genma sat on the chair beside the Yamanaka, his hand on the girl's wrist to stop her from getting there.

Genma knew this picture. It had been in his apartment when it had been destroyed.

"... How?"

This was the only word he managed to say without bursting out into tears. If he had tried to ask any more, he was sure he would have ended up with tears streaming down his eyes.

"We know you've been stressed lately. And really hurt." Ino looked up at him with a soft smile, "So we wanted to do something that would make you remember all the good old times."

"We all worked as much as we could to help find anything that may have belonged to you within the rubble of your apartment building." Neji continued, then offered a small smile towards his cousin. "It was all Lady Hinata's idea."

The girl blushed at being singled out, but smiled up at Genma in that same way that had always managed to make his heart melt.

"I just wanted you to be happy."

Dumbly, Genma raised his hand to pass the page. And on the next one he found even more pictures he had thought he would never be able to see again, all a little worse for wear... But still distinguishable and beautiful.

He didn't have any words. Just tears that threatened to spill.

So instead of saying anything, the man just wrapped his arms around the three in front of him to show them how truly grateful he was.

..~..~..

Genma deserves more love as a mother hen. He really does. Just look how great of a mother hen he is: The Hokage trusted him to keep watch over Tobirama and Hashirama.

Please remember to review! Show me the love y'all have for Genma!


	21. Chapter 21

_Chapter 21: How Genma Found Himself with a Brand New Charge:_ No, everything was not okay. Genma was seriously hurt by what Naruto and Haku had done, even though he chose to (foolishly) allow bygones to be bygones. Even though he was set on forgetting all about the kids' trip, his friends were _not_. And while these tensions were resolved, Genma found himself with a brand new stray to bring home. Although this one... Isn't like any of the other kids...

..~..~..

Raidou wasn't the kind of guy to butt his head into things that didn't directly affect him. Usually he chose to stay on the sidelines and allow things to resolve themselves. For if he had learned one thing from having been raised with five overly dramatic sisters, it was that no matter how much you love someone, it's not worth it to involve yourself into their drama.

But for his best friend, he was willing to dive into the pits of hell itself.

So he was willing to give the stern talking to these idiots needed.

The kids he had seen grow up before his very eyes had matured a lot ever since he had met them. They didn't try and kill him too often, only when he made fun of Genma being their wonderful mother hen, and actually were smart enough to be good shinobi. It had been a shame only one of them had been promoted to chunin, but there wasn't much Raidou could do about that.

But even though they had grown a lot, they were still no older than thirteen. _All_ of them were still immature, no matter how much Genma might insist they weren't. They were still susceptible to being extremely stupid and not being aware of how that stupidity might hurt those around them.

Genma was not the kind to actively seek out confrontation from those he loved. Like any other well-adjusted ninja, he didn't back down from any challenge. But he certainly didn't instigate them whenever it came to those he considered he was close to. Which was the reason why he didn't really want to give Naruto and Haku the stern talking to they needed.

Raidou didn't hate Jiraiya as much as Genma did. But he didn't like the man and couldn't stand being near him. He'd never been the kind to enjoy the company of cowards, after all.

Genma hated the Sannin because of everything he _hadn't_ done for Naruto. He had not been around to take care of him as the Fourth Hokage would have wished. He had not been around to keep hordes of villagers from hurting the kid. And he had not been around to take him in after knowing how cruelly the villagers treated a _child_.

Even though he'd never admit it, Genma hated Jiraiya because he felt like the man and he were much too similar. In the beginning, right after Minato's death, they could have done so much for the blonde, but had left him floating in space. Had left him completely alone. They'd refused to acknowledge him. But then Genma had been forced into a change of heart and he'd allowed Naruto into his home. Now the kid was part of _his kids_. His little minions.

To have Jiraiya suddenly come back and muscle his way into Naruto's life like he had done felt like an insult to him. Hell, it felt like an insult to Raidou and he wasn't close to Naruto. Especially because the man hadn't even tried to say sorry over having abandoned the child as a newborn. He'd just appeared as if he had never even known his father.

The only reason Naruto knew _anything_ about how his real parents were was because he, Genma, and Iwashi had told them bits and pieces. Only the things that would keep him from connecting the pieces, though, for they couldn't let him know that his father was the Yellow Flash. But they let him know all the good times they had spent together without giving too much information on his skills.

All Jiraiya had told him about Minato had been how he'd created the Rasengan.

"Rai? What are you thinking so hard about?"

Because of the large amount of work to be done, it was now pretty usual for a seasoned tokubetsu jounin to be accompanied by one or two genin to complete missions that were too important for a squad of rookies, but too simple for more than just one knowledgeable ninja. This was the reason why he currently found himself accompanied by two of Genma's munchkins.

The mission was a simple snatch and grab from some hidden town trying to force itself on an even smaller populace through the use of (dishonestly acquired, they were all sure) contracts that stated the land used was theirs for the taking. But if the papers disappeared, then the Hidden Leaf would have a large sum of money to acquire and the dishonest town would have no way of muscling their way into the town.

Neji was perfect because of his kekkai genkkai. With it, Raidou was sure that they wouldn't have any trouble finding the documents they needed to make disappear. And Ino had been assigned onto this mission with the hopes of beginning to push her into the direction that her father had once followed.

Ino was a good kid. Just like Neji. Just like the rest of them. But she was a bit too perceptive for his liking... Just like the rest of the little mongrels...

"What Naruto and Haku did." The man answered honestly and in a blunt tone, for he did not really care if these two found out about how bad he thought of these two kids at the moment.

Genma hadn't gotten soft when he worked in the field. If anything, he had become just a tad bit more ruthless when it came to their targets. Especially the ones that hurt kids. But he was too permissive with the kids he surrounded himself by, even though he insisted he wasn't.

"They trampled all over Genma-san." Neji murmured softly, "Lady Hanabi says that they have yet to apologize."

Ino huffed out in clear annoyance, "That's because dumb old Farmer man didn't _let_ them apologize! He just accepted them like some big idiot." After she had said this, Ino turned to look at Raidou, who quirked a curious eyebrow up at her harsh words. "I love him. But you've known him for years now. He's an idiot."

Genma was an idiot. No doubt about it. Especially if _Ino_ , a girl that loved and revered him in just about every aspect of the world, said so.

"I do not understand why it is that Genma-san hates Lord Jiraiya. But, even if I do not, I understand that there is something he does not trust about that Sannin. It is obvious he doesn't like him. There is no logical explanation for Naruto and Haku having gone off other than the fact that he was getting the only person in the world that could save Zabuza-san." Neji spoke in somewhat objective manner, "But, even with that, they did not have to leave without telling him."

Raidou's frown became heavier after hearing how even _Neji_ wasn't about to back his friends up on the matter. Then, when he looked over the horizon, he found that they were nearing their destination.

"Don't worry kids, I'll set them straight."

* * *

Genma was sent off on a new mission.

There was nothing wrong with it on paper. A simple courier mission to hand in some important documents to the Sand that would help both villages begin to form an alliance after the horrid invasion planned by Orochimaru.

The man did not feel _right_ going into the desert. It felt as if he was entering his death simply because of the fact that they had attacked the Hidden Leaf without any kind of hesitation. They'd killed many of his allies simply because they were just 'following orders'. They had almost gotten Zabuza killed.

Baki was waiting for him at the front gates of his village when the senbon enthusiast arrived. The older male looked much better than the last time they had seen each other, seeing how he was no longer sporting bandages that screamed out the injuries he had suffered.

"How are you, Genma-san?" Baki asked in a polite yet friendly voice as he motioned for the man to follow after him.

"Good, considering everything." The younger male offered a small smile at the curious eyebrow quirk from the older, then shrugged, "Kids are driving me insane. But that's nothing new, now is it?"

"Not at all." Baki hummed out as he led Genma through the hot streets of his home village. "Gaara has decided to become Kazekage, though. So Temari and Kankuro have decided to 'step up' his training so he's ready for anything." A pause came now, then the man was offering Genma a tight, annoyed, and irritated smirk, "I am sure you understand just how _interesting_ things have been because of this."

If the Sand Siblings were anything like Genma's own kids, then the man _did_ understand how interesting things might have become. He had the Second Hokage teaching Kiba, Naruto, and Tenten how to not get themselves killed with the forbidden jutsu they'd learned all the while the First Hokage helped many of the other kids with their stances and fighting styles.

How his life had come to this, Genma would never be able to truly understand.

"It is good you have arrived with those documents, though." Baki murmured in a much looser tone, although his voice became a tad bit more professional. "We managed to find the spies that were sent after you to stop their delivery."

"Spies?"

With a heavy sigh, Baki nodded, "Two of them. One managed to get away but the one we were able to capture is a vocal kind of person. He enjoys shouting and insulting my men. Which means he'll be easier to break."

It was a kind of unspoken agreement around the world. The more a ninja enjoyed screaming, shouting, and insulting, the easier they usually were to break. People that were vocal about the things they liked or didn't were more likely to trip up and give away information they didn't want to lose. And it was usually easier to play them into giving away what was needed.

Of course, this wasn't always the case. But it was one of the reasons there were some talkative shinobi that were never given too much information about their missions.

"If you'd like to get some rest, I can drop you off at the quarters that have been separated for your stay now. After that I can bring you to the Town Hall so you can give in the documents."

Genma was confused as to why there would be any spies trying to stop him from reaching his spot. Especially ones that had been caught by the _Sand_ rather than himself.

"I'm good." He murmured, "If there's someone after the information, then we should hand it in as soon as possible."

Baki agreed and soon led him towards where shinobi handed in their information and mission reports. Genma quickly gave them to a surly looking old woman that didn't seem happy at all to see him. But she took the documents without too much hassle and informed them both that the Council would be reading these over immediately.

After that, Baki began to walk him towards the quarters laid out for his small stay. But on his way there, Genma couldn't help but worry about the spies that had been sent after him.

"It just doesn't sound right, Baki. The document is important, yeah, but it doesn't hold any secret information or plans. It's all just ideas the Council from Konoha came up with so that Konoha and Suna could begin to fix our relations."

Baki agreed, "Must be someone, though, that doesn't want Konoha and Suna to be allies once more."

It wasn't right, though. Even though Konoha was large, Suna was small and struggling. Their ninja were good, but they weren't good enough to be considered a true nuisance. And Konoha was currently working on better relations with the Hidden Mist as well, which was much bigger and more powerful than the Village Hidden in the Sand.

"Can I go meet the captured spy?"

For a second, Baki stopped walking. The exposed half of his face was clearly pensive and Genma could just _see_ the wheels in his head turning. With a heavy exhale, the man shrugged, "He _is_ under my watch at the moment. Because of heavy losses, not many shinobi are around to keep dangers like him under lock and key. So I've got Gaara looking over him at the moment... I don't think you getting a crack at him would hurt."

With this, Baki began to fill him in on the situation with the spy as he led him towards a nondescript building at the edge of the village.

Apparently, this guy had quite the mouth on him.

~/~

They did not know his name. They did not know the specifics of his mission. Nor did they know who his dark haired partner had been.

They _did_ know he was from Yugakure because of the headband he wore wrapped around his neck. And they also knew that he was one of the most foul mouthed individuals they had ever come across.

At first, Genma just watched from the corner, allowing the gray haired man to run his mouth as Baki tried to steer the interrogation in some kind of direction that would lead to answers.

But as some time passed, the only man from Konoha began to notice some oddities within the man.

First of all, he didn't _sound_ like a man. Sure, one could say he was immature and brash, which was pretty normal to find in a prideful man. But the way he spoke didn't sound like someone that had been alive for a long time; immortal or not.

Second of all, he didn't look as if he enjoyed what he was doing. There were moments in which he would wince subtly and spout off a long line of harsh insults that would make Baki bristle and the T&I ninja with him move to hurt him. Baki would always stop them, though, for it seemed that the man got off on pain and giving him some would only make him happy.

And third of all, his _eyes_ did not match his image. They were expressive, young, and bright. All the while he tried to portray himself as a hardened criminal that didn't give a damn about those he had killed.

Genma had met heartless killers before. He'd looked into the eyes of men that would have rejoiced in murdering him and anybody that had been with him. He'd met men and women that didn't give a damn about their lives and didn't care what happened to anybody around them.

This _kid's_ eyes were _not_ the kind he'd seen. Instead, they reminded him a lot of his kids' own.

Eyes were the windows into a soul. If one paid enough attention to them, they'd be able to read a person. And this kid's eyes screamed a very different story to what his words and demeanor were trying to give.

~/~

"You're just a kid, aren't you?" Genma frowned heavily as he asked this.

He had waited for the gray haired male to finish his insults to Baki's family to finally speak up. He'd waited a few more minutes after deciding on who this person actually was to say anything. He'd wanted to observe him a bit more to make sure that he wasn't wrong. And the more this kid had screamed, the more Genma had become.

The gray haired male didn't react surprised or as if he even believed Genma's question. Instead he glared harshly and spit out, "I killed thousands of my fucking neighbors! I'm not some fucking snot nosed little shit!"

It was an act, though. Genma _knew_ it. He could see the fear within his eyes, the broken innocence... He could see the underlying _wish_ for hope beneath so much unsurity and doubt. He wasn't wrong about this kid trying to act as if he were someone he was not.

"You're trying to make yourself seem older than you are. I can respect that." Genma murmured with a soft shrug, "But kill counts don't dictate age. I had killed more than a hundred by the time I was fourteen." Then he narrowed his eyes, making sure to look straight into the odd, almost purple colored, incredibly terrified eyes. "You're no older than nineteen. And this whole tough guy act? You're using it to protect yourself."

The _kid_ frowned heavily because of this. Then he turned his glare onto Baki and his fellow Sand Nin. "I ain't sayin' a single fucking thing with these cock suckers in the room."

There was a moment of silence in which Genma wondered if Baki or the Sand Jounin might say or do something to stop the kid's nonsensical growling. But his friend soon nodded stiffly and motioned with his head for his partners to follow after him.

The man and woman weren't all that inclined to leave a Leaf Shinobi alone in the room, but didn't try and argue with their commander. They walked out before Baki, exchanging confused looks on their way out. And when Baki went through the door, he stopped, gave Genma a small nod, then closed the door behind himself.

Soon enough, it was only Genma and the kid trying to masquerade as a man in the room.

Then, in a soft, almost broken whisper, the kid said, "My name's Hidan... And I'm just eighteen."

Genma was surprised by the sudden change in his voice, and quickly asked, "Then why are you acting as if you were older? You're just a _kid_."

"Because I can't stop myself!" He almost shouted, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "I've got a curse or something on me... I can only be a bastard. I can't be nice. If I try to be nice, my body turns against me."

The man sucked on his senbon as this kid- Hidan, now- tried his best to keep from breaking down.

This could all just be some kind of ruse. The kid could have sensed worry from Genma and could be trying to abuse of his innate sense of protecting those that he deemed worthy of it.

But Genma's gut had never led him wrong. Every person he ever felt compelled to protect wound up deserving it in some way.

"Then why are you telling me this? Won't your body... What was it? 'Turn against you'?"

The kid's face suddenly broke into an almost maniacal grin, his eyes shining with a hope Genma had been sure didn't live within his body. "Only someone that can care for a monster would be able to hear me out. I thought I'd never meet anyone that might give a single shit about me... But... You are. You care."

There was so much hope in the male's last words that Genma couldn't find it within himself to argue.

* * *

When Raidou returned from his mission, it was to find Iwashi waiting for him at the Village Gates. And from the way he was frowning harshly, the scarred male immediately knew why.

"You two go on ahead. I'll file the mission report." He told Neji and Ino, who looked up at him with confused glints in their eyes.

"We wish to help in disciplining Naruto, Raidou-san."

"Yeah! I want to kick some ass!"

It was reassuring to know that, even though they were friends with the troublemaker, both these kids knew that what Naruto and Haku had done was wrong.

It seemed that _everyone_ but Genma knew...

"Raidou! Guess where Naruto is right now!" Iwashi smirked tightly, without any humor to be found in his face, "Making Jiraiya some lunch with his team's help."

Iwashi _hated_ Jiraiya. Hell, he hated _all_ of the Sannin. The younger male had never explained why it was that he hated the three so vehemently, but Raidou never questioned it. Just like Genma, he must have had his own reasons.

"That _idiot_!" Ino shouted, "Where's Farmer man?"

Iwashi looked at her in slight surprise, but soon answered, "Suna. He was sent off on a mission to deliver some things."

The blonde breathed out a sigh of relief at this, "At least he's not around to hear this." Neji murmured. "I cannot understand how someone could be so unbelievably _ignorant_."

"Don't worry, Neji." Iwashi's smile suddenly took on a sinister edge, "I'll make sure Naruto and Haku understand just how much they've hurt Genma."

Raidou did _not_ like the evil glint in his eyes. So he grabbed the younger friend by the arm and began to remind him how, no matter how much he thought it might be a good idea, hurting any of the kids was _not_ a good idea and would never be.

* * *

Convincing Baki to let Hidan out of the handcuffs was not as difficult as Genma thought it would have been. But, then again, that may have just been because he had been the only one to actually get information out of the kid rather than just insults and hisses.

"My partner was _supposed_ to be a guy from some village I don't know named Kakuzu. He's supposed to be immortal like me; with a nasty temper. 'Cause he can't kill me, I was assigned to work with him."

Currently Genma found himself sitting cross legged on the balcony of Baki's home, his left hand tied to Hidan's right.

Even though he'd been trusted enough to be brought out of the interrogation room, for all the information he had given Suna was valuable and deserved some kind of reward, they weren't about to let him escape. And the only person Hidan was actually civil towards to was Genma. It was a no brainer when it came to deciding who would look after him.

"But he was given a last minute assignment that was too important to pass up on. So I was teamed up with another guy..." Hidan's face scrunched up as he thought, then looked up at Genma's face. "Can I see your village's design?"

Genma was kind of confused by this, but soon nodded and raised his right hand to pull his bandanna off. Then, after he shook his head a bit to try and loosen his hair, showed the kid his village's plate.

"Konoha." He supplied, only to find Hidan pointing in alarm.

"He's from there! An emotionless jerk with red eyes from Kohona!"

Either Hidan was an excellent actor, or he truly was a kid dealt some pretty shitty cards in the game called life.

"Konoha." Genma corrected, "Red eyes?"

No clan in the history of Konoha had purely red eyes. That was an ability that came from one specific clan. And there were only two people from Konoha that had the ability to turn their eyes red that were still alive. But only one that had not been anywhere near Konoha in _years_.

"From a clan or somethin'." Hidan murmured with a noncommittal shrug, then turned his head to the side so he could look into Baki's apartment. "Oy, fucker, where's my food!? You too retarded to finish anything on your own!? Need someone to guide your pussy ass hand?"

With a heavy groan, the teen shoved his face into his left hand. "I don't _want_ to say these things! But I can't stop myself."

The matter of a red eyed man from Konoha was pressing and Genma wanted to solve it as soon as possible. But the pain in the kid's voice made his heart squeeze tightly, which made the red eyed man leave Genma's mind and instead be taken up by the odd curse Hidan said controlled him.

"You said it's a curse, right?" He asked, only to receive a small, almost shy nod from the teen. "Have you seen a curse mark on you? Maybe we could break it so you don't suffer any longer."

Explaining to Baki just why the kid was a complete dick to everyone had not been easy. Especially when Hidan insulted Genma in front of him. But, apparently, the curse only allowed Hidan to be himself when it was _only_ Genma around. If there were others then he was forced to be rude and crass.

"I haven't seen any." Hidan murmured, "But the bitch that put it on me was smart and a master in this kind of thing. She made sure to hurt me right where it hurt."

In the few hours they had spent together, Genma had come to learn a lot about the young teenager. He had once had a loving family and lived to serve his village. But when he laughed at the wrong person, his whole world came spiraling down. Hence why he couldn't stop himself from spouting off angrily. Why he couldn't stop himself from killing innocents.

Genma wasn't completely sure, but last he had heard of Yugakure, it had long ago established itself as a vacation spot. It hadn't produced shinobi in at least a decade.

Even with this, it was odd that Hidan hadn't seen anything. But... "Whenever you try to be nice, does your body begin to ache?"

"Yup."

The screen door that divided Baki's apartment with the balcony outside slid open at this point. And the large man stepped out with a tray piled up with food that was for all three of them.

"Finally!" Hidan growled, smirking threateningly up at Baki.

But his eyes, even with the threat his whole body was trying to showcase, shined with pain and regret.

"Have you managed to get more information out of him?" Baki looked directly at Genma, ignoring the wickedly smiling Hidan.

"Yeah. I've actually learned a lot..." He drifted off as he continued to look at Hidan, then frowned, "Hidan, I want you to try and be nice to Baki-"

"No fucking way!" The purple eyed teen hissed, but Genma merely smiled reassuringly at him.

"It's to try and figure this curse out, Hidan. When you try to be nice, your body forces you to be mean, right? Do you feel any pain when this happens?"

All of the anger that had suddenly overcome him quickly dissipated to leave only confusion and slight curiosity. "Well... Yeah..." The teen murmured, then his eyes widened marginally before he growled out, "But it happens so fucking little that I don't give a damn anymore!"

The hand tied to Genma's own was suddenly gripping Genma's wrist tightly. The sudden action made the man jump and looked down at Hidan's hand.

Hidan wanted to tell him... But he couldn't with Baki around.

"Alright." Genma nodded softly, then looked up at Baki. "Do you want us to continue finding stuff out? Or would you rather stop and eat?"

"I want some fucking grub!"

"It seems Hidan has answered for me." Baki answered with strained patience.

Undoubtedly, he was tired of listening to Hidan always cursing when around him. And Genma couldn't really blame him. But they were actually getting answer from the teenager with the kind approach.

"Let's eat, then."

* * *

Naruto had thought that this day would be a normal one. He'd woken up, had breakfast with Sasuke and Haku, gone out to train with his team, checked on a still recovering Zabuza, then gone ahead to get some extra training finished up with Jiraiya. After that, they'd prepared some food for Jiraiya to keep him around so he would teach all of Team 7 some new jutsu he said might be good for teamwork.

He hadn't thought that being taught by the old pervert would be a bad thing.

Farmer man had come to accept the guy, even after that one odd episode when Jiraiaya had first returned to the village. And if Genma accepted Jiraiya, then there was nothing wrong with the world.

Or, at least, that was what Naruto had thought until today.

"Genma's too much of an idiot to tell you anything, kid. But I'm not. And I don't feel bad about hurting your feelings by telling you the truth. So I'm going to tell you how much you hurt that idiot of a man that decided to adopt you."

Raidou and Iwashi had walked up to him with heavy frowns. And they'd asked if they could speak alone with him and Haku with serious and heavy tones Naruto had not heard in a long time.

Last time Raidou had sounded like this... Well, had been _years_ ago. Back when he'd gotten the scar that now marred his face.

"Look, Naruto," Raidou breathed out after Iwashi's somewhat upbeat words, "Genma loves all of his kids. I may joke about him being a mother hen, but he actually is. All of you have weaseled your way into his heart and he holds you guys really high in his heart. For one of you to betray him... Well, it hurts a lot."

"But..." Naruto blinked, more than confused, "He didn't yell at me."

Haku remained quiet, though. And when Naruto turned to look at him, he found that the other boy was frowning heavily with his eyebrows scrunched up. He was thinking about what was being said.

"Of course he didn't. Because he's too nice to bring you down when you're so happy." Iwashi grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. "He saw that you and Haku were happy over having saved Zabuza and wasn't about to scold you. And after a month of seeing you running around with Jiraiya, he most probably decided to just suck up all of his hate and deal with it."

"He's had a long history of being too selfless." Raidou continued, making both teens turn to him. "But what you two did was horrible and there's no way we can just let it slide without letting you know just how much you hurt your precious Farmer man."

* * *

(Naruto and Haku promised themselves that, as soon as Genma arrived, they would apologize profusely. And promise to never talk to Jiraiya ever again. Because Genma was much too nice to be alive and they should never have taken advantage of him or his kindness.)

(Iwashi was left kind of disappointed that he had not been able to exact some revenge on Genma's part. The idiot deserved people to stand up for him. But he was glad that Ino- secretly- promised him to help him get some revenge on the Sannin later on.)

(Shino, Kiba, Chouji, and Hanabi may have all helped with that.)

* * *

The curse mark only appeared whenever Hidan tried to be nice. And it appeared at the base of his neck, causing a painful sensation to shout up throughout his whole body it was taken over by the need to be a jerk.

Hidan had stopped trying to fight it a long time ago. He'd learned quickly enough that the more he fought, the more it would hurt. So he hadn't tried to actually be a good individual in a long time ago. But now that Genma was around and actually able to help him, he'd made the effort to do so, even with the pain that overtook him.

It was a seal unlike anything Genma had ever seen before.

The easiest way to explain the design was a full circle with an upside triangle held within. But within the triangle there were three different pieces, all colored in a different manner. The upper left corner was red, the upper right corner was black, and the pointed tip was a dark, somewhat purple color.

"I've never seen a seal with colors before..." Genma murmured in awe at the design, then raised his hand to trace the lines.

The skin beneath his fingers was smooth yet cold. Almost as cold as a corpse.

"Hidan, are you okay?" He asked in alarm, making the teen glance over his shoulder in confusion, "Aren't you cold?"

"Na." He shrugged, "I feel normal. But if you think that's cold, you haven't been anywhere near the worst of snows, huh?"

It wasn't normal for any human to be this cold. But Hidan seemed to be fine.

"I've been like this for a long time now." The teenager sounded much too accepting than Genma thought was right, "I lost count of how many years have passed since I was cursed."

One would think that years of immortality would help one mature. But it seemed that Hidan was just stuck in a horrible hell from which there was no escape. He was quiet and pensive whenever it was only Genma, although he acted brash and foolhardy when other people happened to be around.

Maybe part of the curse was to make him seem as immature as the day he had been when he had first been cursed?

"Don't worry, Hidan." Genma turned the male around so that he was looking into his odd, purple eyes. "We'll figure this out. We'll free you from this thing. _I promise_."

Hidan's smile was shaky but his eyes were wide and hopeful. And that was all Genma could have asked for. Just a tiny bit of hope from the kid.

* * *

Hashirama enjoyed being alive once more. It was fun to live in a period where he could just relax and help the future generation of shinobi train.

"No, brother, it is time for Tenten to learn-"

"The basics of the Edo Tensei she managed to learn by being a thief?" Tobirama interrupted with a soft frown, "I agree completely. Now come along, girl. I wish for you and Kiba to learn all of this as quickly as possible."

Tenten blinked at both brothers as she continued to chew her breakfast, then asked, "Didn't you two get the memo? Kiba, Hinata, and I are going off on a mission. We're supposed to leave in a couple of minutes."

Both men froze up when they heard this, then Hashirama asked, "Why didn't you tell me?! I had a whole obstacle course prepared for you!"

The kunoichi soon shrugged, "I dunno..." before she finished up her breakfast and stood up from her table. "What are you two even doing in my apartment? When did you find out I lived here?"

"It's not difficult to find anybody in the village." Tobirama huffed softly, "And he followed me once he figured I was going to find you."

Hashirama offered a completely unapologetic smile, then cocked his head to the side curiously. "Wait a minute, didn't you say you had to leave in a couple of minutes?"

"Yeah."

"But... You're not... At the village gates..." Hashirama was completely confused by how nonchalant and calm Tenten seemed.

His brother, though, just seemed annoyed.

"You are _not_ going to be leaving late for your mission." The white haired man growled, "Hurry up and move."

Tenten waved them both off as if they _weren't_ some of the shinobi to have ever lived. And Hashirama found his admiration for the kunoichi only grow.

~/~

"Alright, guess we'll be seeing you two later."

Tobirama was not amused with how relaxed Tenten was. He'd always believed that, no matter how simple, a mission was always to be taken with as much severity as possible. There was always the possibility of everything going wrong and a shinobi losing their life.

"Take this mission seriously." He grunted, only to have Kiba wave him off.

"We'll be fine, old man!" Then he smirked viciously, making Tobirama truly wish he had been able to extract the knowledge of his jutsu from the three kids.

It was still a wonder to him how they'd managed to get the scroll. Even more so, though, now that he knew how close the three were to their other friends. Why they had not passed on knowledge of the jutsu was a mystery.

"And if anything bad happens, I'll just use my summons!"

"And I could use Edo Tensei too!" Tenten added sarcastically, rolled her eyes at the Inuzuka, then began to move forward. "Let's go. We don't have all day to finish this thing."

Both loud mouths began to walk away at that point. But the last of their team, a young Hyuga, faltered for a few seconds. Her eyes went from her friends over to the ex-Hokage, apparently at a loss for what to do.

Quickly, though, she decided what had to be done. "I'll make sure neither of them try anything dangerous, Lord Second!" She rushed extremely fast before running behind her friends.

Tobirama was caught off guard by the sudden shout. But, for some reason, he was reassured that he wouldn't have to worry about either of those idiots doing anything stupid. At least there was _one_ intelligent person on their team.

"I'm gonna be bored now." Hashirama muttered softly, then glanced up at the sky. "Wonder what's in that one's claws."

Tobirama didn't have to look up to know that his brother was talking about a messenger bird. "Something important to the village's safety." He answered then turned around to head back towards the inside of the village. "Let's get going, Hashirama."

* * *

When Genma returned to the village, it was two weeks later than he was supposed to have returned. Two weeks which were spent trying to convince Suna's Council to allow Hidan into Genma's custody so the Hidden Leaf could try and help the poor kid out.

In exchange for allowing Genma to take him back, there had been a lot of things Konoha had ended up having to promise. First of all, they would come to Suna's aid _whenever_ it was necessary, no matter when or who they would have to fight. Their partnership as villages came before any others and Suna refused to be looked over for bigger villages. Second of all, once Orochimaru if they captured Orochimaru, then Suna would _not_ have to hand him over as was normal to do with village traitors.

There were a few more points that had been agreed to, but most of these were inconsequential. And a few were even good for both villages, like opening up trading routes and beginning a kind of ambassador exchange program.

Baki had been one of the loudest voices when it came to drafting these agreements. And it was most probably thanks to him that moving Hidan had even been _considered_.

"Yeah, no. Fuck you, puppet fucker."

"I like this guy, Genma. He's not afraid to be honest!"

Kankuro, unlike his siblings, seemed to enjoy Hidan's crass friendship. There was no underlying care or wish to help. The kid just enjoyed being around someone as rude as Hidan.

"Kankuro, stop taunting him." Baki scolded lightly as they approached the Village Gates, "I will go and meet with the Hokage. But we've made immediate arrangements to have the best get a look at his curse seal."

Faintly, Genma could make out blue and white standing firmly at the front gates. Which meant that Tobirama was there and would be part of the receiving party.

"Hidan's given us a lot of information on this 'Akatsuki' group, which means we'll all be able to protect ourselves." He told Baki, then smiled over at Hidan. "Looks like it _did_ matter."

At first, Hidan had refused to give away any information about the group that had sent him to his apprehension. But once he'd come to see that Genma truly wanted to help, he'd decided to help himself and tell them everything he knew.

Itachi... He was a damned fool.

But Genma refused to give up on him.

He'd never told another living soul what he thought about the Uchiha massacre, but he'd never given up hope on the wayward Uchiha. And now that he know who it was that he had joined, Genma knew that he would do everything he possibly could to help him. He refused to leave _any_ of his kids behind. Even if they ended up making some pretty bad decisions.

Once they got into the village, Tobirama would take a look at the seal on Hidan and decide how to proceed with trying to free him from his curse. Baki would meet with the Hokage to finish up negotiations. And then a new Hokage would be announced.

Even with a dark cloud that threatened to bring down everything good in the world looming nearby, Genma knew that everything would be fine.

..~..~..

Oh! One more chapter to go, then this story is finished! Aren't you excited for this?!

Hidan is now a sweetheart forced to be a dick. My story. I love him and he deserves more love. So this was only a purely reasonable decision. Besides, this story is a pretty huge AU at this point. Why not continue with the canon divergence?

Please review!


	22. Chapter 22

_Chapter 22: And So Came the Winds of Change:_ Tobirama did his best to help Hidan and he was able to find a way to free him from his curse. Life continued; missions were completed, days were lived, and schemes were hatched. But if there was one thing Genma could say after his meeting with Itachi... It was that these kids were around to stay... If he was lucky, it would be like that forever.

..~..~..

Hidan did not integrate easily into Konoha life.

First of all, he was under constant surveillance. Not only from Tobirama and Genma, who played the paper of his main caretakers and always one could be found with the teen. But also from the Hyuga Clan, who distrusted of a man they had heard to have killed thousands in his short life. And ANBU had an around the clock rotation always following Hidan. It didn't matter who was with him at the moment. There could be no lapse in security when it came to someone as dangerous as the Jashinist.

Then there was the fact that he couldn't get along with _anybody_. The only person he was able to talk to without having his curse eat up at him was Genma. And no matter how much he tried to remain silent whenever around others, his big mouth always got the best of him.

The only reason Tobirama believed the curse story was because he had seen the seal with his own eyes. If it hadn't been for that, he would have joined every other skeptical villager and questioned the validity of Hidan's 'true' nature.

"I don't want to be a dick..." The teenager sulked in the corner of Genma's room with his knees pulled up into his chest, arms wrapped around them. "Why can't I just stay in here for the rest of my life? That way I won't bother anyone."

With a soft smile making its way onto his face, Genma walked over to Hidan and crouched in front of him. Then he placed his right hand over the kid's own, making him look up at him.

"You didn't mean any of the words you said. I know that. Lord Hiashi knows that. He won't kick you out because you called him a slut. Trust me."

Hiashi had been skeptical at first about Hidan's curse. Just like everyone else, he found it hard to believe that _anyone_ would curse someone to make them constantly swear. He had believed that Hidan was just taking advantage of Genma's kindness and the man wasn't seeing it.

But one night, after yet another of Hidan's explosions at one of the clan members, Genma had insisted the Hyuga Clan Head follow him. And quietly they'd entered Genma's room, where Hidan had been curled up into a ball in the corner. He had been crying and cursing his horrible luck.

"There's no amount of devotion to a role that would make someone cry like that."

After that night, Hiashi had been a lot more understanding and much less receptive to Hidan's insults. He remained passive and permissive most of the time. Even though he still didn't allow either Hanabi or Hinata to meet the teenager, but that was something Genma and the rest of the kids respected.

"But I'm nothing but a nuisance." Hidan hissed, glaring half-heartedly at Genma. "He's got every right in the world to get rid of me."

"He may." Genma shrugged, "But he won't. Hidan, you're here so we can help you. _And_ as a sign of good faith after all of the information you gave us on the organization you were working with. _No one_ is going to leave you out to hang."

The teenager didn't seem too sure of Genma's words. But he also seemed to decide that this conversation wasn't one worth having, because he quickly changed the topic.

"Tobirama says that he thinks he's getting real close to cracking the curse..." The teen huffed, "Which I hope is right 'cause I can't stand many more of these phantom pains that keep appearing."

To be able to understand the true depth of the curse, Tobirama had decided to run quite a few experiments on Hidan. Some had been harmless and were just to see how far his crass nature could go. But some were rather painful, for they tried to find which degrees of niceness were denied and punished. Sadly enough, _all_ degrees of kindness caused Hidan pain. Even the nicest _thought_ hurt him. Nice actions were the worst- he'd been suffering quite a bit over the years.

"If there's anyone that can figure this out, Hidan, it's the Second Hokage." Genma smiled at the teenager in a way he hoped would reassure him, "You've just got to trust him."

With a soft frown, Hidan nodded. Genma could see that, deep in his eyes, there was distrust and disillusionment. But at least he was willing to try and help them help him. And that was much more than Genma would have expected.

They remained in a slightly tense silence for a few minutes after Genma last spoke. Silence which was broken by a fast knock on Genma's door.

Both males looked up to see who it was that was knocking on the man's door at this hour- which, in retrospect, wasn't actually too late, even though it _felt_ as if they'd been awake for hours. Which Genma immediately guessed must have been one of his kids because they opened the door without needing to wait for him to call them inside.

"Yo! Farmer man! Ma and the Kage need you real quick! Somethin' 'bout catching someone from some kind of Suki..." Kiba walked in with a tired groan that reminded the man a lot of Shikamaru and his own exaggerated groans and yawns.

"Suki?" The man repeated, confused for a second before he connected the odd word with a name he'd heard being thrown a lot nowadays. "Ah... I get it..." He murmured to himself, then turned to look down at Hidan.

He didn't want to leave the teenager alone. Tobirama wasn't around, so he _shouldn't_ be left to run around on his own. But if the Hokage had actually sent Kiba to get him and hadn't waited for anybody much better prepared for messaging, it must mean that the situation truly was dire.

"Kiba, stay with Hidan."

The Inuzuka frowned and made to argue with him. But Genma sent him one scathing glare and the kid shut his mouth, crossed his arms, and grumbled about Farmer man abusing of the love he had for him.

Genma suppressed the smile that wanted to worm its way onto his lips.

"I'll be back as soon as possible. Until then, Kiba, behave. Hidan, try your best to behave."

The teenager looked at him with wide, pleading eyes, silently begging him not to leave. And Genma looked back at him apologetically, shrugged softly, then made his way outside of the room he and Hidan shared and began to make his way towards the Hokage's office.

* * *

"Well if you weren't such a bastard!"

"I'm not the bastard! You're the fucking prick that won't let me go out and get water!"

"Farmer man doesn't let you leave the room after eight! I know that!"

"He lets me if it's to go and get a fucking glass of water!"

Hinata had grown accustomed to hearing Hidan's shouting. Even though she had never met the male that Farmer man had brought back from his mission in Suna, the young Hyuga felt as if she knew him rather well.

She hoped she didn't really know him. Because she found it hard to believe someone could be so inherently _mean_.

Her father had asked her and Hanabi to stay away from the teenager. He had explained to them that he was a dangerous man that could try and kill them at a moment's notice. And he would be successful if they didn't have anyone around to protect them.

Hinata was terrified of Hidan.

But... She still snuck her way towards Farmer man's room in the middle of the night to try and catch a glimpse of him. Hanabi sometimes accompanied her too. But tonight she had decided to sleep because she wanted to impress Iruka Sensei in the morning with amazing footwork and she needed to be awake and well slept for that.

Hearing Kiba arguing with Hidan made the young Hyuga cringe. But she allowed herself to peer inside of Farmer man's room through the door she had slowly and quietly opened.

Hidan looked really angry. His eyes were like smoldering embers because of how angered they looked. And, even though his back was turned to her, Hinata could tell that Kiba too was extremely angered.

"I don't have to take this shit!"

Kiba came storming at the door as soon as he said this. Hinata immediately squeaked and faltered as she tried to scurry away from the door to not be found.

Gracelessly, she jumped into the adjoining hallway to her right, one which led towards her one room, and hid behind the corner. Kiba passed her by without even noticing her, much too busy fuming in his anger to smell the very familiar scent that was near him.

Hinata's hammering heart hurt inside of her chest. She was so terrified of being found out doing something she wasn't supposed to do that she actually thought that her heart would pound its way out of her chest and onto the floor.

Luckily for her, after minutes of deep breathing and reminding herself that her father was in a meeting with the Clan Elders, so she was in no threat of being found by him, her heart slowed into a fast, yet not harsh, pace.

It was when she was finally able to relax that she heard the sobbing.

In another universe, Hinata was sure that she had not grown up with her friends. She was pretty sure that, if other lives were real, then she would be painfully shy and would never dare even speak up. Because even with the friends she had now, it was hard to force herself to put her thoughts into words. It must be a thousand times more difficult without the friends that had given her the strength she had needed to force her to use her voice.

So, in another universe, Hinata was sure she would never have dared find out just why she had heard sobbing.

But because this was _her_ life and she _had_ grown up with her friends, Hinata decided to indulge her curious side.

* * *

They wanted to send a group to capture Itachi.

Itachi Uchiha was now a notorious criminal that worked for the organization that Hidan had worked for.

Itachi had been the one to give Hidan up.

Itachi was still alive.

Genma was sure that he shouldn't be too happy over hearing about the Uchiha when he _knew_ that he was a dangerous criminal that had hurt many and would hurt many more if he wasn't stopped. This was a teenager that had; apparently; caused the death of many high standing figures in other villages and had caused turmoil and friction because of this.

Tobirama hypothesized that the goals of this unknown group- which they only knew was named Akatsuki and had been composed of ten capable and dangerous S-Ranked shinobi- was most probably to cause civil unrest in the beginning stages. Most probably, this kind of unrest will lead to some nasty master plan, as was the trend when it came to meticulously crafted plans like these. There would be a nasty end-game. But just what that was supposed to be, none of the people called to the Hokage's office had known.

Even though he would never admit to it out loud, Genma was happy to hear that Itachi was still alive. Because if Itachi was still alive, then he would be able to talk to him and ask him why he had done what he had done. If he was still alive, then Genma might be able to make him see just how much he had affected his younger brother, how much he'd hurt them all. And if he knew Itachi, which he _did_ , the kid _would_ feel something. He knew it.

His friends were right… His heart really _was_ too big…

With a soft sigh, Genma softly pushed the door into the room he called his own within the Hyuga compound. And he stepped in after he had toed off his sandals, more than prepared to have one final conversation with Hidan to reassure him that had done nothing wrong, then fall into his bed and go to sleep.

The sight before him made him freeze up in the doorway, though.

"No, really, i-it's beautiful."

Hinata didn't stutter too much. Normally, when she stuttered now, it was because she was overexcited or not completely comfortable with a person.

This stutter came from pure happiness. Genma knew it.

"Are you sure? I mean… yours is so much nicer…"

Hidan was not a person Genma would have thought he would _ever_ find making a bouquet of flowers. But there he was, sat down on the floor in front of their beds with Hinata beside him, flowers in bunches between both of them.

"It's because I've been making them f-for a very long time." Hinata smiled kindly as she patted the older male's hand, then turned back to her work and picked up a flower crown.

 _That_ particular skill had been learned from Ino.

"Your crown." She smiled, offering it to Hidan.

Genma couldn't believe what he was seeing. He could not understand just what it was that he was seeing. All he knew with complete certainty was that the scene he was witnessing was so adorable it could compete against some of his fondest memories with the kids.

Even though Hidan was being nice, Genma didn't expect him to put the flower crown on. He may be a nice enough kid, but he didn't seem like the kind that would allow someone to put a flower crown on-

Blinking in complete stupefaction, Genma found himself watching as Hidan bowed his head towards Hinata, murmuring to her to put the crown on his head. And then he watched as Hinata's smile grew so bright it could have lit up a whole room, only for her to put the crown she had made on the teenager's head.

"Are you sure you want the one I made?"

"Mm-hmm." Hinata nodded eagerly, quickly bowing her own head for Hidan to mimic her.

The flower crown Hidan lifted up was crude and had more than a few crushed flowers. And he raised it shakily, as if he really didn't want the younger girl to wear it. But as soon as he had placed it on her head, Hinata pulled it down a bit more so it was stable, then lifted her head up with that wonderfully beautiful smile that would make even the stoniest of hearts melt.

"I love it!"

"A-Are you sure? I could try and make a different one… here, maybe I can make a better one."

Without noticing Genma's presence, both kids began to work on a brand new flower crown on Hidan's insistence.

As they worked, Genma stepped out as quietly as he had come in. And he closed the door behind him, a stupid little smile on his face.

Hidan had found someone else that was able to beat out his curse.

(After an hour or two had passed, he had drank a cup of tea with Lord Hiashi and had helped read a much too awake Hanabi to sleep, Genma returned to his room. As quiet as a cat stalking its prey, he entered the room, hoping that the two that had previously been inside were still within.

Hinata and Hidan had fallen asleep against the foot of Genma's bed. The flower crown on Hinata's head had been replaced with a much nicer looking one, but in her hands, Genma could see the first one Hidan had made. And Hidan wore three flowers crowns upon his head, along with a necklace and the bouquets in his hands.

Genma had not been able to suppress the urge to take a picture of them. So now he was the sole owner of one of the few moments that he was the only person to have been able to witness. And he kept that picture close to his heart, for it reminded him that there _was_ good within Hidan, just like within all of his kids.)

* * *

When he had heard about Haku and Naruto accompanying the one man Shiranui _despised with all of his heart_ , Zabuza's punishment had been swift. They'd learned their lesson. They had said they had learned it from before; that they had apologized to Genma after some of the man's other friends had talked to them about it… But he had not cared.

Taking a page from that blundering oaf, Might Guy, Zabuza had forced the two idiots to run fifty laps around Konoha on their hands. But that hadn't been enough of a punishment. Even as weak as he was, he'd managed to create two water clones that had followed them both during the whole punishment to frighten them whenever they began to slow down.

The woman that had healed him, one of the Legendary Sannin, had then almost kicked his ass for exhausting his virtually nonexistent chakra reserves. But it had been worth it to make sure both those brats understood that if there was one person they were not allowed to disrespect, it was Shiranui.

Zabuza did not trust easily. Nor did he make friends. The only person he'd ever allowed into his heart ever since he'd renounced his Village had been Haku. After that, he'd only tolerated supposed allies to keep Haku happy. Even Baki had been more of an acquaintance than a friend until recently.

He wasn't an emotional man. Nor was he a praying man. But when he took that sword for the Hokage, he found himself praying that _someone_ would find enough compassion inside of themselves to help him. Even with how despicable and violent he had been throughout his life, he had not wanted it to end yet. Not without seeing Haku grow into the competent and powerful shinobi he knew the boy could be. He _wanted_ to see that boy become a man. He _needed_ to see it. He needed to know that his momentary lapses in judgment throughout their time together had wound up being worth it.

While stuck inside of that damned coma, he'd been able to contemplate a lot. He had thought about his violent childhood, murderous teenage years, and subsequent extremely weird adult years. Dare he say it? Living with Shiranui had been almost _domestic_. And even though he would never admit it out loud, that had been a welcomed change.

Haku running around with those brats, smiling brightly and unabashedly, would always bring warmth to his stony heart.

Trapped inside of his mind, Zabuza had found that his only true regret in life had been dying. Because there were still so many things he wanted to see with his own eyes.

Luckily enough, those kids had broken Genma's heart and gone to get Jiraiya. Tsunade had saved his life; he didn't take that away from them. But that didn't meant he would applaud them for daring to go through such a stupid plan that wound up hurting Shiranui more than anything.

His recovery from the wound had been rather easy. But he guessed that was simply because Tsunade and her helper both worked as efficiently as possible to repair all of the damage done to him as a sort of payback for how he had protected her old teacher. After they'd finished with her, he'd been tossed to the Hyuga, just like Shiranui and his brats.

Having a new brat under the Hyuga's roof was somewhat weird for Zabuza (he'd heard about Shiranui's knack for strays, but he'd never been there to see someone aside from himself and Haku being forced under his wing). Especially because the kid looked familiar.

He wasn't sure just why that foul mouthed bastard looked familiar, but he didn't try and figure it out either. If he knew the kid, it was most probably from his violent past. And those memories were best if they stayed forgotten; he didn't want to start worrying over Haku or the rest of the brat's safety whenever the silver haired teenager was around… Well, he didn't want to worry _any more_ than he already did.

Shiranui's heart was too damn big…

Zabuza sighed softly as he came to this conclusion, then glanced over at Haku. Across the dining room table, the boy was talking amicably with Hinata while Naruto and Sasuke 'secretly' elbowed each other beneath the table.

If they thought they were being discreet, Hatake needed to teach them some actual stealth.

With a growl and a glare in their direction, Zabuza effectively stopped that nonsense.

After a couple of minutes of eating in an easy enough silence, Shiranui finally made his appearance. Behind him was his newest shadow, eyes turned down to the floor to not have to look at anyone at the table.

There was something off about the kid. But Shiranui liked him. So Zabuza would tolerate him… as long as he didn't put Haku's life in danger.

"Lord Hiashi." Genma bowed respectfully, then walked over to the vacant spot beside the Head of the Hyuga Clan.

Hidan quickly moved after him and took up the chair beside him.

"I think that it would be a good idea if Hidan and Hinata were allowed to socialize."

Zabuza had heard about the kid's supposed curse; that he was only nice and his 'true self' whenever he was around people that cared. And if there was someone with them that 'didn't care' then he'd be a jerk.

Zabuza didn't buy the bullshit. But Shiranui- the damned soft heart- did. And so did the Konoha bleeding heart, the Second Hokage. So maybe there was _some_ truth behind it.

That didn't mean Zabuza would believe it. It just meant he _might_ be wrong.

The Head Hyuga's eyebrows rose up immediately, apparently scandalized at the very idea of his oldest daughter spending time with the degenerate.

Zabuza could understand this.

"Please, you've got to trust me. I've seen them both together…" Genma murmured softly, keeping his voice quiet so he wouldn't be overheard by his mongrels.

Zabuza looked over at them to see if they were even marginally paying attention and trying to eavesdrop on the adults. He merely found them playing with their food and giggling like idiots.

… And this was supposed to be Konoha's future defense…

Tuning back into the conversation, even though he kept his eyes on his food, Zabuza then heard Genma say, "Just look at this… I took this picture after they spent some time together- don't glare at me like that, I trust Hidan. Besides, look at that… No cruel man, no matter how good an actor, would ever allow Hinata to put flower crowns on him."

Flower crowns?

Zabuza wanted to see that picture.

"I do not want the Hyuga Clan Heiress to be exposed to such-"

"Come on, Lord Hiashi. When have I ever been wrong about trusting someone?" Genma cut in.

Quickly enough, Zabuza felt eyes burning holes into his head. And immediately he knew that both men had begun to look at him, as if he were the perfect example about Shiranui's great history in trust.

He was annoyed at being looked at like some kind of specimen… But he'd damned himself into being _the_ person to look at whenever Shiranui's instincts were put into doubt. He'd almost lost his life trying to save their Hokage. Unfortunately, he _could_ be trusted by the Leaf.

After a couple of seconds of being stared at, Zabuza heard, "Alright… I will allow it… But _only_ if you are around to make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Of course Lord Hiashi." Zabuza could just imagine the insufferable smile that must have been on Shiranui's face at that point. "Thank you."

This man was a fool.

Why had he allowed himself to accept the deal to enter Konoha with him?

Tuning back into the conversations of the children in the table, he found Haku laughing softly as Hinata giggled. So he looked over to find them both with their eyes closed, clearly enjoying their time together.

 _Right…_ _That's_ why he took the deal…

* * *

Genma had been right to ask Hiashi to allow Hidan to spend time with Hinata. Now that they spent time together and Hidan knew that there was _someone else_ that cared for him, Genma could see a great friendship growing between the two unlikely people.

Hidan was kind and took to Hinata as if he was a dehydrated man and she was water. And Hinata latched onto him like the older sister she had been trained to be after years of helping raise countless rogues.

"The seal is getting weaker."

Genma was surprised to find the Second Hokage inside of his room. But, at the same time, he wasn't.

All ninja had (unfortunately) a predisposition for theatrics and shocking entrances. Tobirama Senju, although he insisted as to being a completely serious and mission driven man, was not exempt from this predisposition.

"What do you mean?" Genma asked, only for the Second Hokage to turn around and look at him.

"Hidan's seal; it's getting weaker." His face was serious, his red eyes narrowed in on him. "I'm not quite sure just how it works… But I believe it is because of Hinata."

Then senbon enthusiast quirked an eyebrow at what the man had said and crossed his arms over his chest, "Wanna sit down and explain to me just what in the world you're going on about?"

Normally, he would have been much less snippy with the likes of the Second Hokage. But he was tired, stressed out, and _so_ not in the mood for the other's theatrics.

Itachi was out there somewhere, alone and in an unbelievable amount of danger. And all because of something that he had not wanted to do.

If Genma had given him different advice… If he'd told the kid that orders could and should have been ignored if they were too despicable to go through with… Would Itachi still be here with them? Would he have been able to see his brother grow up by his side, rather than far away and resentful?

There would always be questions that ate at him because of their lack of an answer. Unfortunately, until he spoke with Itachi, he would not be able to answer this question.

(Another question that ate at him was _just what in the world was he ordered to do for the Uchiha Clan to be murdered in a single night?_ But he was terrified of finding out the answer to _that_ one. So he refused to think on it for too long unless he wanted to lose whatever semblance of hope he had in his life.)

Tobirama looked at him through narrowed eyes for a second. He seemed to be contemplating something about him. But just what that something was, Genma didn't even try to ponder about.

Eventually the man nodded and they made their way towards the balcony that rested outside of Genma's rooms, where there was a small tea table along with a couple of cushions.

Sometimes Genma would drink tea with Hiashi in his room. At other times, they would instead come here so Hiashi could be treated to the solitude that came from having a quiet house on one side of his senses and a peaceful forest on the other. Even though some might have felt insulted over having been accommodated in rooms at the very back of the Hyuga Compound, where all that could be seen was the thick forestry Konoha was renowned for, Genma was grateful for it. It was much easier to calm down when he was looking at peaceful green rather than people bustling around in their lives.

Once they were seated comfortably, Genma quirked an eyebrow over at Tobirama. And the Hokage merely closed his eyes and crossed his arms before he began to explain himself.

"A seal's strength is usually able to be found in the intensity of its coloring and the steadiness of its lines. The bolder the color, the more potent it is- usually." The Second Hokage now opened his eyes to look at Genma with a steady gaze, "Hidan's own seal, if you remember correctly, was colored rather brightly when you first brought him to me."

Genma nodded softly, the memory of the seal on the base of the kid's neck still fresh in his mind. He had never seen anything like it before in his life- it was only natural for him to remember it so vividly.

"Even as bright as the colors were, its lines were somewhat faded. I merely attributed that to its age- sometimes lines aren't the most important part of a seal. Especially in one like this, seeing how the colors were so solid." Tobirama continued speaking, the frown on his lips deepening as he brought his right hand up to clutch at his chin. "The fading was not taken into account because I assumed that the seal's strength came from the colors. But I was wrong."

Hearing Tobirama admit to being wrong must have been something completely unbelievable to those that knew him. Truth be told, Genma found himself kind of taken aback by the admission. This was the Second Hokage- a man known for his intelligence and prowess in the field. It wasn't all that farfetched to think that he never wanted to be wrong.

"Has there been anything new that happened to him? Anything that you have not told me about?"

Genma sucked at the senbon between his teeth, bit it twice, and finally remembered.

"Hinata and Hanabi have met him. Around them, he can be himself."

When Hinata had found out that Genma knew about her friendship with Hidan, she had freaked out and tried to take a page out of the rest of her friend's books and had tried to run away and escape into the Forest of Death. Luckily he had been able to catch up with her before she had done lost herself in the giant maze that was that evil place. And he had been able to explain to her that he wasn't angry. If anything, he had been happy that Hinata had managed to form a friendship with Hidan. It gave the teen even more hope.

Hanabi was not supposed to have been part of that friendship. Hiashi had given permission for his eldest daughter to befriend Hidan, but that was simply because Genma was to be with them at all times.

The _one_ time he had been forced to leave on a last minute mission in which he was supposed to act as backup in the capture of Itachi… Well, that also happened to be the _one_ time Hanabi snuck out of her room and went to find out where her older sister sometimes spent her nights.

Hiashi had been livid. Hanabi and Hinata, though, had been unrepentant. And they now considered Hidan to be a great friend- even though they were not able to be around him when there were other people other than Genma as well.

"Uh… Yeah…" The senbon enthusiast admitted, wincing slightly, "I meant to tell you, but time got away from me and I never got around to telling you…"

Tobirama quirked one stark white eyebrow but remained silent.

Genma answered with a soft smile playing on his lips, "Hinata and Hanabi both met Hidan. Around them, he can be himself; he doesn't curse or anything whenever it's just them around. So I asked Lord Hiashi's permission for them to form a friendship with them."

He was twisting reality just a tiny bit, he was aware. But he couldn't be blamed. It sounded so much nicer than 'Hinata snuck into my room one night and made flower crowns with Hidan. I got permission from her father for them to hang out together, but not for Hanabi… Then one night snuck into my room too'.

Silence hung over them for a couple of heavy seconds. Then Tobirama cleared his throat and nodded tersely, "That might explain it. I'll have to run one more test to see if my hypothesis is correct, but…" Now he looked up at Genma with eyes narrowed in determination, "Do you know of anyone else that might be able to care for Hidan?"

Genma blinked in stupefaction for a moment.

Then he sighed.

Most of the people Genma knew had already met Hidan. And most believed that his story was a load of bull shit. The only reason they actually put up with Hidan was out of respect for him.

Who were the nicest people he knew?

Ibiki didn't believe Hidan's story, even though he had not met the kid… Inoichi and Ino had already met Hidan and wanted to be nowhere near him… Izumo didn't want to meet the kid out of fear of what he might hear… Hana was always busy at the clinic… And Hashirama was… Nothing. He had no argument against trying Hashirama.

Surprised at his own train of thought, Genma looked at the Second Hokage with wide eyes. "Your brother."

Tobirama immediately began to glare.

Genma winced, prepared to receive a tongue lashing from Tobirama for ever even having thought that his brother would want to participate in such silly nonsense as this.

But then the white haired man sighed and nodded stiffly.

"My brother would be foolish enough to care for someone like this. Let us set up a meeting."

* * *

Quite frankly, if it hadn't been for Ebisu and Genma, Kakashi knew his team would have been one of the biggest laughing stocks of The Chunin Exams.

Why the Hokage had thought it would be a good idea to assign _him_ of all people a team was beyond him… Maybe the man was insane… that sounded like a plausible explanation.

The three kids he was tasked with teaching were strong and competent in their own rights. He, on the other hand, was a floundering idiot that had no idea how to keep a _plant_ alive, much less three little, flesh-and-blood, danger magnets.

"Joint training?" Asuma asked, not trying to suppress the shock he felt upon being invited by the Copy-Nin to host both of their team's training. "Are you feeling alright Kakashi?"

Of course he felt fine!

… Not really… But he was fine _physically_. It was the emotional bit that was giving him some trouble.

"I think it'd be good for our teams to run this course together. My team has coordination of attacks, but your team has coordination of just about everything else. They could learn something from one another."

Asuma looked down at him as if he didn't fully buy into his story. But he soon shrugged and agreed.

Sasuke and Naruto were too strong. With each passing day, they became ever closer to becoming too strong to believe they had to listen to anybody else.

If someone like _Sakura_ had the ability those two had, Kakashi wouldn't have to worry. She was smart enough to understand that strength wasn't the only thing someone needed in this world to survive. She knew that intelligence trumped out pure brute strength on any given day. But Naruto and Sasuke… Well… They were idiots, to put it simply.

He had been an idiot too. He sometimes still was. So he believed he knew what it took to be an idiot. And those two, in his book, were idiots.

Besides, keeping the kids busy when they weren't on missions was good. That way they would be too tired to bother Genma whenever they went back home.

(Kakashi would never admit it, but he was worried about his friend. He'd always been worried- the guy had always had a bad habit of ignoring his own health to make sure that everyone else was fine.

So, seeing how he was currently dealing with helping out a kid whose story nobody believed, while still going out on missions, _and_ trying to help wherever he could on the plans to capture Itachi Uchiha… Well… The guy was running himself ragged. _Again_.

So, yeah, if he could help the idiot Shiranui out by draining two of his kids' energy before they went back to him, then he would do everything in his power to tire them out.)

* * *

Tenten had always known that Hashirama was a weirdo. Just like she had also known that Farmer man had too big a heart, Hinata was so sweet she could rot teeth, and Kiba was so annoying he didn't go one day without getting his head pummeled in by someone tired of his shit.

Because she had known Hashirama was a weirdo, she should not have been surprised by the sight she was met with when she returned to her apartment. But for the love of all things holy in this world, she never would have expected to find the hyperactive Hokage inside of her house, drinking tea with her mother while her father sharpened up some weapons and made off handed comments from his work station on the other side of the apartment.

"Uh… What's going on here?"

"Tenten, you're back!" Hashirama suddenly stood up with a broad smile clear on his lips, much too peppy for Tenten's liking.

Her mission had not been a failure. And, admittedly, she had missed hanging out with her friends. But the courier mission had left her with a bad taste in her mouth after things had gone south and they had been forced to take some actions they had not really been prepared to make.

Nothing bad had happened. They had completed their mission and nobody had gotten hurt… But the reality of what it really meant to be a ninja was still one she had not managed to digest completely.

There wasn't any blood on her hands.

Not anymore.

The memory of the enemy nin's scream as she drove a kunai through his throat was raw in her mind. And it made her frown in disgust at both herself and her enemy.

She glared down at the floor to not have to look at Hashirama's much too happy eyes.

She wanted to avoid everything that was happy right now. It didn't feel right… How in the world could she allow herself to be happy after she had _murdered_ a guy?

 _"We did it for the mission."_

 _"We did it for the Village."_

Tenten frowned heavily as tears began to sting at her eyes. She would never allow them to fall. But they still stung in an annoying fashion.

Being a ninja wasn't as cool as she had once thought it would be.

"Tenten."

Hashirama's warm and heavy hand was suddenly on her shoulder, pulling her from her thoughts and making her look up at the man. His face held a soft look of concern she'd never seen on him before- was Hashirama Senju truly capable of more feelings other than just complete elation and happiness?

"Your father was just telling me about the time you, Ino, and Shino broke into Genma's weapons cabinet and assaulted Kakashi and Raidou. Were you truly such a rambunctious child?"

There was a sort of heaviness in his voice she'd never heard before… It was as if there was some kind of smarter thought to him that was weighing him down…

Tenten pursed her lips as she looked into the large man's eyes, trying to figure out just what he was up to.

This was normal Hashirama behavior, right? Being much too happy and insistent in wanting to find out about her life and that of her friends… But there was something more to what he was doing… Kind of like Farmer man whenever he knew there was something off with them but didn't want them to know… Like when he dealt with Sasuke after the massacre…

Maybe Hashirama Senju was more than just a much too happy dolt with extraordinary powers.

Smiling softly, Tenten pushed the thought of blood red coating her hands and ear piercing screams resonating in her head.

"Yeah. I've always been awesome."

* * *

He was off on another mission to capture Itachi.

Like all the others, he had fully expected this one to fail.

Never in a million years would he have thought he'd find himself face to face with the very person that had filled his conscience with regret and shame for the past five years.

"Genma-San?"

He couldn't speak. All he could do was stare at the teenager that had grown up far away from his supervision.

All of the not-teenagers had grown up into fine young men and Hana had always been an exemplary individual… He had known this for a while.

But, for some reason, he had never- seriously, _not once_ had he thought about this- connected the growth of those few with Itachi's own. In his mind, Itachi had never grown up. He could only see him as the frightened thirteen year old that had asked him if he would take care of his younger brother if anything happened to his clan.

Tsume and Shikaku were far away from them. They had been tricked into fighting Kisame, Itachi's partner within the Akatsuki. But Genma had persevered, hoping to find the Uchiha youth before he managed to run off.

They had cut off the partners on their way back to wherever it was that the Akatsuki was based in now after a mission of theirs.

Quite frankly, it was a miracle they had been able to find the two. The other few times they had done this, they had merely found faint traces of their scents for Tsume and Kuromaru to track. The closest they had ever gotten to finding the two before today had been when they had found the corpses of a group of mercenaries they had decimated near the junction between the Land of Fire and Land of Wind.

Now Genma had no idea how alive Shikaku and Tsume were. But he _did_ know that Itachi was right in front of him.

He had been dreaming of this day for so long he couldn't believe it was reality.

"Itachi-"

"I do not want to fight you. But I will if you force my hand."

The other male's tone was harsh and cruel. To anyone else, it might have sounded as if Itachi actually felt like he could back them up. But Genma knew him; so he knew better than to actually trust these words.

"Cut the act." He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest as he jutted his hip out slightly. "I know you, kid. And you don't mean those words."

"You _don't_ know-"

"I said to _cut the act_." He hissed out suddenly, eyes narrowing.

Itachi's mouth froze up and promptly closed, all the while he took one step back.

Genma loved this kid. He really did. So he wanted to try everything in his power to make him see reason so he could come back to the Village and live the life he had always deserved. He was willing to try everything to bring him back.

"You're not the tough guy you're trying to prove to me." Genma kept his eyes focused directly on Itachi's blood red own. The sharingan was activated, he was aware. But Itachi would never use that against him. He was _sure_. "But you don't have to prove anything to me." His voice softened and he took one step forward, moving slowly so as not to startle the kid.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

Itachi didn't move though, frozen in his place. He allowed Genma to move closer, but there was a creeping suspicion in the back of Genma's mind that it wasn't that he _allowed it_. Instead, he couldn't do anything _against_ his moving up.

"Remember that night you asked me about orders- how you were supposed to decide whether following them was right or not?"

The kid had changed over the years. Genma could still not get over that. He was taller now- so tall, even, that he was sure he was taller than him. His hair was longer as well. His face had changed, losing any faint traces of childish innocence to be replaced by hardened resignation. There were only faint traces of the Itachi he had once known… But they were still there. And he refused to not focus on them.

"You were trying to tell me something what that, weren't you? You were trying to send me a message about what had happened."

Itachi tried to sneer viciously at him. But the look seemed to be more pained than actually angered. And that managed to send a crack straight through Genma's heart.

"You do not know what you are talking about." Itachi hissed at him, his eyes suddenly narrowing with so much anger that Genma suddenly lost his footing.

Could… Could he have been wrong about Itachi? Could, after all of this years, he have been wrong to actually believe in the boy that had slaughtered his whole clan?

No. He couldn't be wrong. Itachi had left Sasuke alive. He had done so out of sympathy. He would never be heartless enough to leave his little brother alive to let him suffer. No matter how much he might try and say otherwise, Genma knew his heart.

"You are wrong. And I am sorry you are still chasing a fool's dream. But know this Genma Shiranui: I committed that massacre because I wanted to."

Itachi's eyes… There was something off with them…

Genma felt like an idiot the moment he noticed why he felt there was something odd.

"Why don't you say that looking me in the eyes?" He challenged, immediately earning a sneer from the Uchiha. "Is it because you're lying?"

Itachi was looking him in the face. But he was looking him in the eyes. The teen thought that by staring at his nose Genma would think that he was being looked at in the eyes. But he was a smart guy. He knew a try at deception when it was used against him.

Aiding in raising dozens of kids had helped him learn quite a few tricks. And Sasuke himself had used this tactic a few times… It seemed that Genma finally knew just where he had adopted the habit from.

"Itachi," Genma called out, only for the Uchiha to take another step back. "Let me help you. I know you're a good kid-"

"What you know doesn't matter." He barked out suddenly and harshly, "All that matters is what I've done. I massacred my whole clan. Then I became a missing-nin. I am now one of Konoha's greatest enemies. Can you not believe that?"

"No. I can't."

"Then I am sorry you are such a fool."

And suddenly, all Genma knew was darkness.

~/~

When he came to, it was to hear the sounds of arguing.

"How could you have let this happen? You allowed him to go after Itachi? _By himself_?!"

"Don't use that tone on me, Momochi! We were separated. We had a mission. And we were able to accomplish half of it!"

"That doesn't matter because; in case you haven't noticed; Genma is stuck in a hospital room on life support!"

Genma had never heard Zabuza so passionate. And, now that he heard it, he had to admit… It was kind of terrifying.

The fog in his brain was too thick to allow him to truly make sense of what he had managed to hear. All he could truly do was just think about how weird it was that Zabuza had once been his enemy, but now he was one pretty neat ally to have around. He'd taken a hit with a poisoned sword for their Hokage- not his. That meant a lot in Genma's book.

"Missions go south. It's the nature of the beast; you should know this well."

Huh… Shikaku and Tsume… He was sure that there was a reason for them to be arguing with Zabuza… But he wasn't completely sure why.

"The injuries Shiranui sustained were bad, yes… But none of them were terribly life threatening…" Shibi sounded curious, but monotonously so… It was a tone only an Aburame could accomplish, really.

The sudden silence that fell over the arguing adults was thick. So much so that even Genma, in his dazed state, could feel it. "He was found with a kunai _inches_ from his spine. I do not care about life threatening injuries nor do I care about whose fault this may have been. All I want is Itachi Uchiha to answer for his crimes."

Hiashi… Genma had never heard him sounding like this… It was like a restrained storm that was only inches from unleashing its full wrath.

After a couple of seconds, the senbon enthusiast's brain finally caught up with what was being discussed around him. The parents of the children he took care of and Zabuza were all inside of whatever room he was in, and they seemed to be divided.

Tsume, Shikaku, Shibi, and Inoichi all found the state Itachi had left him to be odd. They also believed that the apprehension of Kisame Hoshigaki, the Akatsuki member Tsume and Shikaku had fought, was a pretty good recompense for the injury dealt to him.

Hiashi and Zabuza were livid. Never in his life would he have thought he'd ever say either of those men were truly worried for him. But they were. And they wanted Itachi's head on a pike for what he had done to him. Hashirama, oddly enough, agreed that the Uchiha had gone too far and needed to answer for everything he had done to hurt Konoha.

He didn't find out Choza, Ibiki, and Tobirama were in the room until he forced his eyes to open and took stock of everyone around him.

As soon as they noticed he was awake, all of the adults around him silenced and stared at him.

Genma blinked back at all of them, feeling as if he were nothing more than a child caught with his hands in the cookie jar. Everyone around him had varying looks of worry, anger, and slight relief. But if there was one constant that caught him off guard, it was the concern every single person around him exhibited on their face.

"Uh…" His mind blanked out on him for a couple of seconds before he was able to come up with anything to say. Then, finally, "I'm guessing I'm never going to hear the end of this?"

His words seemed to open a floodgate. Tsume, Zabuza, and Hashirama all began to growl and sneer at him over how stupid he had been. Hiashi and Tobirama merely glared at him, making him feel as if he were a genin that had failed in the dumbest way possible while trying to complete his first mission.

Luckily, Choza and Inoichi smiled softly at him, as if trying to comfort him without using any words. And Shikaku and Ibiki just stood there, allowing the more hotheaded of their colleagues to get all of their words out before they tried to interject.

The scolding he received went somewhere along the lines of "How can you teach our kids to be competent shinobi if you always put yourself in the dumbest situations? Just in what world did facing off against Itachi Uchiha _alone_ ever sound like a good idea? If you think you'll ever be allowed to leave this Village alone, you better be prepared to get your ass kicked by us!"

Hashirama added a small bit of "Is this how he usually deals with tense situations? If he does, I don't think he should be allowed to be a ninja anymore- for our sakes."

Then the other adults that had remained quiet grew tired of having to wait for their turn, so a full brown argument broke out around him yet again.

Tobirama was the only one to remain truly quiet, for even Ibiki snarled out a few insults and threats when Tsume got too big for her britches.

Quite frankly, Genma thought that the argument would continue for a good hour. But after a few minutes, the door into his hospital room slamming open silenced everyone inside.

"Everyone that is not the patient or Tobirama Senju has to leave! _Now_!"

This was a voice Genma did not recognize. But it was feminine and filled with wrath and promises of much retribution if it was not listened to.

It seemed that all of the adults noticed just how childish they were acting because they did not put up a fight to leave. They all said their huffed goodbyes, except for Inoichi and Choza because they waved reassuringly at Genma, and left the room.

Soon enough, it was only him, Tobirama, and a busty blonde Genma recognized as the newest Hokage. Tobirama's grand niece… Hashirama's granddaughter.

"Those are the Clan Heads…" The woman sighed with a shake of her head, "No wonder their kids are insane."

"Did you bring him?"

Finally Tobirama spoke. And it made the woman nod tensely. "Yeah… But I still don't get why you wanted me to bring him here."

"Because Genma needs some good news."

The woman rolled her eyes, but opened the door into his room and stepped to the side.

Genma quirked a confused eyebrow over at Tobirama, but the older man merely kept his gaze on the door. So Genma decided to look on as well, seeing how Tobirama wasn't going to tell him anything.

Hidan stepped in shyly, his hands clasped together in front of him as his eyes shifted from one spot to another in the room without landing on one specifically. He looked scared and trepidatious. But when his eyes finally landed on Genma, they widened and a bright smile appeared on his lips.

"Thank Jashin you're alright." He whispered as he ran towards him, which made Genma immediately try to move up to embrace him.

The sharp shout left his lips without his permission. And Hidan immediately ceased, eyes going wide once again.

The blonde turned a sharp glare on him, "No sharp movements. You're lucky you're able to move at all."

Genma wanted to ask her just what in the world she was talking about. But, at the moment, he was just happy to see one of his kids.

"Hey, Hidan. How're you?"

"I'm good. Great, actually." Hidan offered him a broad smile, then asked, "Notice anything different?"

It took Genma more seconds than he would have liked. But eventually he noticed what Hidan was trying to tell him.

"Tobirama and Tsunade are in the room." He breathed out, eyes going wide. Hidan's smile somehow became even broader. "Did you break the curse?" He asked Tobirama, who softly shook his head.

"You did; amazingly enough."

"What?"

"My idiot brother was the missing piece of the puzzle." Tobirama sighed, then motioned for Hidan to walk towards him.

The teenager did so without trying to fight. Once he was in front of Tobirama, the Second Hokage turned him around and pulled down the collar of his shirt to expose his neck, where his seal had once been.

All Genma was able to see now was smooth, pale skin.

Hidan was freed from his seal.

"How?"

Hidan smiled at him and explained how the curse had been lifted when he met Hashirama one-on-one, rather than with other people around. The seal was already weak because of Hanabi and Hinata, and Hashirama was merely the final piece of the puzzle required to free him finally.

Ever since he'd been freed, Hidan had been able to give any and all information he had on the Akatsuki to Konoha without his curse getting in the way. Every single member he knew about, their plans, their strategy to accomplish what they wanted… Nothing he knew about the organization was kept secret any longer. Konoha now knew everything he knew. And they would not allow the Akatsuki to even get close to achieving the power they sought after.

Genma did not know just what Hidan meant with that… But he didn't question. He knew that he wasn't one of the big guns that needed to constantly be aware of everything that was going on. Right now, he was just a ninja stuck in the hospital because he had kind of been an idiot. And all he really wanted at the moment was to see his kids. _All_ of his kids.

So he asked Tsunade if he was allowed to have them visit. And she frowned down at him, a sour look on her face before she breathed out and shook her head.

"I wish I had been told this would be part of my job as Hokage… Having to deal with family members is hard enough. But dealing with those kids plus their families plus those annoying chunin that keep sneaking away from their duties to visit? This is hell. My old teacher thrust me into hell without a single warning about it."

Genma smiled softly, feeling kind of bad about what he heard. But, at the same time, he wasn't surprised.

He still didn't understand why these kids were so attached to him. He understood much less why the not-adults were so keen on hanging around him. And even less so the actual parents. But if there was one thing he _did_ understand, it was that, even though he didn't get them, they were important in his life. And it seemed that none of them was intent on leaving him just yet.

Unfortunately.

( _Fortunately_. So very fortunately.)

* * *

"So it has finally been decided?"

"It has."

Sakura felt heavy. Uncomfortable. _Not right_.

Sasuke wasn't himself. He hadn't been himself ever since Shikaku Nara and Tsume Inuzuka had returned with Farmer man on the brink of death.

Quite frankly, she couldn't blame him. Farmer man was important to _all_ of them. But he'd only actually adopted two of them. And those two saw him as more than just a father figure. Seeing him injured like this… And all because of Sasuke's own _brother_... Well, Sakura had no idea just how she would react if she were put in her best friend's situation. She couldn't judge how he had gotten. All she could do was everything in her power to help him in his time of need.

"Itachi will _not_ get away. Not with what he did." Naruto promised Sasuke, a promise Sakura knew was filled with every bit of determination he had within his body.

"We'll get him." Ino nodded, her own blue eyes filled with the same brand of determination Sakura found in Naruto. Heck, _all_ of them were filled to the brim with it.

From Shino to Lee to Sasuke, _all_ of them were aware of what had happened and what needed to be done.

"Clearly, the adults cannot capture him or put him in his place." Neji hissed, the backwards bandanna on his head a clear sign of how important Genma was in his life. "We may not be strong enough now, but don't you worry, Sasuke, this is not a fact that will remain static. We will all get stronger. And when the time is right, your brother will taste the vengeance he brought upon himself."

If Sakura was being honest with herself, it was kind of scary. The Chunin Exams had been terrifying… but this was on a whole other level of terrifying.

Her friends… They were all pissed. Not only at Itachi, but at the adults too. How could they have allowed Farmer man to be injured? How could they have allowed him to go into battle against Konoha's strongest missing nin? How could they have been so careless?

"When the time comes, we'll tear him apart limb from limb." Kiba snarled, his eyes filled with a fire that was more animalistic than human.

Sakura felt herself suddenly fear for Itachi's life.

The man deserved to pay. But this was just scary.

"The Konoha 12 aren't anything to mess with now." Tenten smirked at all of them, thrusting her fist into the middle of the circle they had formed. "I can't wait to see how unstoppable we'll become."

They all put their hands in, following her. Sakura was the last to do so, she admitted it. But she was worried… Not only for Itachi, but for their own futures.

Was power gained for vengeance truly power they should wield?

"Kiba, Tenten, and I have some cool jutsu we could show you." Naruto cleared his throat to capture their attention once more, "And I think they'll be just the failsafe we'll need if anything goes wrong."

"Nothing will go wrong, Naruto." Shikamaru speaking up caught Sakura completely off guard… She had no idea the Nara was capable of such anger. "We will make Itachi pay when the time is right. That I will promise you. That I promise _all_ of you."

"Then it is decided." Shino spoke up for the first time since their meeting had begun, "The plans of our parents do not matter to us. As long as they believe we are not capable of taking care of ourselves, we will tell them nothing. Itachi Uchiha will be brought to his knees by us."

She was surrounded by madmen.

Turning to Hinata and Chouji, though, Sakura noticed she was not completely alone. They both looked just as worried as her… Although Chouji also seemed as if he was prepared to aid in any battle they ever entered.

Was this really the best course of action for them to take?

Sakura was not allowed to ponder the question any further. Hidan walked up to them with a small smile on his lips and informed them that Farmer man was available to receive them. And without a single second wasted, they all ran into the room and threw themselves on his bed, ignoring Tsunade's warnings about his health and possible injuries if they weren't more careful.

Sakura had seen Genma on hospital beds too many times. And every single time she saw him like this, she felt a sense of impending doom wash over her.

What if this had been Naruto or Sasuke while they had been out in the field? What if either of his teammates had gotten injured out there on a mission and all she had been able to do was stand around and fear for their lives?

No, that wouldn't do.

She did not share her friends need for revenge. But she could not let them run off without anybody that could help them if they were injured. She would not be able to live with herself if something that she could have stopped happened to them.

Ebisu wasn't a great medic. But he knew enough about medicine to be able to teach her the basics. And then he knew great medical ninja that could continue teaching her if she really wanted to pursue this kind of career.

She knew this because they had spoken about options before with Kakashi Sensei.

Naruto and Sasuke were powerhouses. Sakura was smart and driven. She would never be able to catch up with the raw power those two had… But that did not mean she had to slow them down. And what better way to aid two powerhouses than to be the healer that patched them up whenever brute strength wasn't enough to beat whatever challenge came their way?

* * *

Chouji didn't necessarily like the path his friends were choosing. But he could certainly see why they would choose it. And, quite frankly, he kind of wanted to go down it too.

"Are you kids okay?"

Izumo… He _really_ wanted to tell the man he considered to be a brother what was going on. He wished he could confide in him the plans his friends had come up with; just like when they had been younger and Izumo, Kotetsu, and Iwashi had all been willing participants in most of their crazed schemes.

But he couldn't tell him about this. He loved Izumo and trusted him with his life, but he knew that the man would tell them to stop as soon as he found out what they had thought of. And he couldn't risk it.

Genma's kids all had to keep their secret.

For Genma.

"Of course." He smiled softly, then offered him some of his chips. "It's just pretty crowded in there."

Sasuke and Naruto were on Genma's bed. Nobody had fought them for the right. The rest of his friends were inside as well… All of them except for him, Hinata, and Sakura.

"We'll wait for the excitement to die down a bit before going back inside." Sakura flashed him a convincing smile, but Izumo didn't seem completely convinced.

"Alright… If you kids say so…" He walked into the room to greet Genma, leaving all three of them alone once more.

Silence hung over them for a few seconds.

Chouji didn't even feel well enough to eat any of his food. He merely kept his right hand inside of the bag while his left held onto it. His throat was tight; he didn't think he could eat anything even if he tried.

"We're not going to be able to stop them."

"Not at all."

Chouji breathed out as soon as Sakura answered him.

Their friends were prepared to walk through fire and brimstone for Farmer man. And he couldn't judge them for it, for he felt the same way too. He just wasn't sure if they were being particularly wise in creating a promise to bring down Itachi Uchiha- the very teen that could make even their _parents_ worry.

* * *

Kiba and Shino took Itachi's attack on Genma-nii-san personally. Hinata felt the same way. The rest of her friends did as well. They all had a right to feel this way, after all. How could they not when he had been a constant in their lives since their childhood years?

When they cried, Genma-nii-san was there to dry their tears. When they were in need of comfort, there he was, offering them a home. When they were terrified, he was there with kind promises of everything will be alright. And when they needed to get their heads of their asses- like Zabuza-san said-, he would eventually help them by showing tough love.

What Itachi had done had been horrifying.

But what their friends were planning... It _much more terrifying_.

Their parents had tried to keep this information from them. They had discusses everything that dealt with Itachi Uchiha and Genma Shiranui behind closed doors, trying to keep them from listening in. But they had not taken into account how truly determined her friends could be. They had not made sure that the room they had used had not been bugged. And so, while Shino listened in with his bugs, Akamaru remained huddled inside of a hole dug up for him before the adults had used the room by Shikamaru.

She could understand why her friends were against what their parents planned... But, really... All she wanted was for Genma-nii-san to be safe and healthy. As long as he was alright, she didn't care about what happened to Itachi.

After Chouji and Sakura had spoken, silence hung heavy over them once more.

They would not be stopped. If there was one thing they knew about their friends, it was that they were unstoppable when they put their minds to accomplishing a goal.

Hinata breathed in heavily to prepare herself for what she was about to say.

Then she muttered, "We have to keep them safe."

And so, a promise within a promise was formed.

Itachi would be brought to his knees by the Konoha 12. This was not something they would be able to try and stop. But the Medic 3 would make sure no one paid too high a price.

~..~..~

Alright. This was one heck of a story. And one long chapter, too. I hope you all enjoyed it!

No, preemptive strike time!

 ** _1)_** Yes, the Itachi bit is short. I didn't want that to be the main focus of the chapter. He'll have more time to shine and disappoint Genma in the sequel.

 _ **2)**_ Yes, there will eventually be a sequel. I have no idea when, but it will eventually be made and published. It might take me some time, though, seeing how much time _this_ story took.

 ** _3)_** Yes, there will also be a series of one-shots for the characters about their relationship with Genma. Don't ask when it will come out, because it's same as the sequel.

 _ **4)**_ No, I do not think this is a perfect story. Nor do I think I gave every character their time to shine. But, hot damn, have y'all noticed how many _important_ characters there are in this story? Just with Genma's genin kids you have twelve characters. That's not counting their parents, the not-adults, Haku and Zabuza, the Sand Kids, and the other adults that make appearances in this story that _matter_!

I don't like characters being forgotten in canon. I know it's kind of hypocritical for me to say this, considering how some of these characters were lost in the making of the story. Can you really blame me, though? Juggling so many different characters, personalities, circumstances, actions... Geez Louise, I get a headache every time I think of everything I've tried to balance out.

Not everyone is satisfied with what they read. I can accept that. But I've never claimed any of my stories to be perfect, nor have I said I don't think they could be better. What I am saying, though, is that this was a really difficult thing to write and I tried my best. With such a huge cast of characters, it's virtually impossible to make everyone shine to the same degree. And, if they do, it takes months worth of dedication and planning- hell, maybe even years! I don't plan much and usually fly by like a crazy person... So, no, do not expect that from me, please.

 ** _5)_** Yes, those 'forgotten characters'- such as Chouji, Shikamaru, Lee, etc- will get a time to shine. If not in the sequel, then in the individual stories I'm thinking of writing for them.

 _ **6)**_ No, I do not regret writing this. There are flaws, but, as said before, nothing is perfect and I am content with what I have made.

 _ **7)**_ Yes, Naruto was talking about the forbidden jutsu they swiped from the Scroll of Seals when he said he's got cool stuff to show his friends.

 _ **8)**_ Yes, the sequel will deal with Shippuden age, will tie up the forbidden jutsu bit, will also finish Itachi's arc, will feature redemption on some of the Akatsuki's part- because I love them too much to let them die- and will hopefully finish up everything I wasn't able to finish in this story.

Please remember to leave your reviews and tell me what you thought of this chapter!


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